Warren Sapp zaps Lions' Suh for second-year performance

Indianapolis — You can say what you want about Warren Sapp, but the man knows more about playing defensive tackle in the NFL than most. He's a seven-time Pro Bowler, a four-time first team All-Pro, who recorded 438 tackles and 96.5 sacks over his illustrious career.

His opinions about Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh have merit, and, they are going to sting.

"From his first year to his second year, he hasn't worked on anything," said Sapp, who is working the Super Bowl with NFL.com. "We're looking at the same guy rushing in the same fashion as he did when he first got into the league.

"You can get away with that at first because they haven't seen you. But that second year, you've got to come show me something, son. He came with that same bull rush."

Suh had 10 sacks and 66 tackles as a rookie. His production fell to four sacks and 36 tackles last season. Besides not learning any new pass rushing techniques, Sapp believes Suh also suffered from having offseason rotator cuff surgery after his rookie year.

"What affected him was, he plays such a power game; just grabbing people and slinging them out of the way," Sapp said. "He had rotator cuff surgery. I had one on each shoulder and I know what that's like."

Asked if he ever regained full strength in his shoulders, Sapp said, "They say when you rehab, you are supposed to come back stronger than you were, but, no."

Suh was also set back, Sapp felt, by the lockout.

"He was put into a situation where there was no offseason, no rehab or any of the things you need to do to get that shoulder strength back," Sapp said. "Without that power, I mean, he's never been a hip-flipper or a real pass rusher, per se. He just overpowered people out of his way.

"At this level, everybody is that strong and that's what you saw. Him with the shoulder and people started to understand that he was just going to go through them; that's all he was going to do. So, all I have to do is get a nice strong base and be ready."

Sapp also blamed defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham a bit for not moving Suh around more on the line.

"It was a joke," Sapp said. "He was always on that left side. Finally they moved him to the right side late in the game (at Green Bay) and he got a sack. They put him on the same side all the time so people could wham block him and everything because they knew where he was every time.

"When I was moving from side to side, teams had to map that thing out. Suh was in the same spot every time and I was like, 'Come on, Gunther, stop it.'"

Sapp is still shaking his head over Suh's continuous attempts to defend himself after his infamous stomp on Thanksgiving Day.

"He's still talking about how he was trying to step over the man," Sapp said. "What universe is he living in? I don't get it. If you can't be honest about your actions on tape, let's just send this out."


(detroitnews.com)