Thirty-two years before Ndamukong Suh, another Lions defensive lineman burst onto the scene and became the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year. And that player, Al “Bubba” Baker, likes the way Suh plays.
Or, depending on your perspective, maybe Baker is in denial about the way Suh plays: According to Baker, the infamous Thanksgiving stomp that got Suh suspended for two games wasn’t actually a stomp at all.
“Go back, look at the film, did he really stomp the guy? Honestly? No, he didn’t,” Baker told the Detroit Free Press.
Baker said Suh was playing the game the way it should be played when he stepped on Green Bay’s Evan Dietrich-Smith, and that people who don’t think that stuff goes on in the trenches are naive.
“In the day that was common. You chop my legs, you’re down on the ground, I’m going to kick you ‘cause you’re trying to ruin my career,” Baker said. “There’s two different kinds of NFL -- the NFL that they’re marketing and they want babies to wear Detroit Lions nighties and booties and all that, and then there’s actually on the field. On the field you have to take care of yourself.”
And if Suh takes care of himself by stomping on an opponent, Baker says to look the other way.