Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was fined $100,000 after Week One for blocking Vikings center John Sullivan low during an interception return.
Suh was penalized for the play, wiping out a Lions touchdown, but there were no flags in Week Two when Cardinals guard Paul Fanaika threw a low block at Suh well behind a running play at almost the moment when the whistle blew to end the play. There shouldn’t have been a flag, offensive linemen can use cut blocks when they are in front of a player, but Suh was asked about whether he was upset about the different standards on Wednesday.
Suh shrugged it off as something that “happens all the time” when blockers are tying to stop him from reaching his desired goal.
“To me, it’s just gnats that are in the air that keep going after you,” Suh said, via Kyle Meinke of MLive.com. “You swat at ‘em, and sometimes you hit ‘em, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes they run away, sometimes they come back again. But ultimately, I’m just that bee going to find that honey hole. That’s what I do.”
Lions coach Jim Schwartz wouldn’t say if the team had turned the play into the league and said he was generally opposed to taking that kind of action while pointing out that Fanaika’s block wasn’t against the rules. Because of that important point, Suh and other defensive linemen don’t have much choice other than to do what they can to avoid such blocks over the course of a game.