Suh to appeal suspension

Associated Press

ALLEN PARK, Mich.

Ndamukong Suh is going back to the NFL, this time hoping for some leniency.

The league suspended Detroit’s All-Pro defensive tackle without pay for two games on Tuesday, punishing the second-year player for roughing up a Green Bay Packers offensive lineman after the whistle last week. Suh promptly appealed his suspension, hoping his stomp doesn’t keep him away from his playoff-hopeful teammates when they need him most.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Suh’s hearing will be with Art Shell, an appointed appeal officer who is paid by the league and NFLPA. As of late Tuesday afternoon, the hearing hadn’t been scheduled, but the league has said it will expedite the procedure to give Suh and Lions an answer before Sunday’s game at New Orleans.

If Suh doesn’t win the appeal, he won’t play against the Saints or in the Dec. 11 home game against Minnesota. He would return Dec. 12 ahead of a road game against Oakland.

Suh is barred from practice and the team’s facility while suspended.

“As a player, you have to appeal it,” said Detroit defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, the team’s union rep. “I’m sure the NFLPA will be on his side to make sure that he gets a fair hearing.”

If the NFL turns rejects the appeal, Suh will be watching the Lions (7-4) scramble to keep up in the NFC wild-card race after what the league said was his fifth violation of on-field rules in his first two years in the NFL. And everyone saw the latest one.

Suh lifted up his right knee and forcibly stepped on Evan Dietrich-Smith’s right arm during the third quarter of the Lions’ 27-15 loss last Thursday in a nationally televised Thanksgiving Day game. Before the stomp seen from coast to coast, Suh shoved Dietrich-Smith’s helmet toward the turf while separating himself from the Packers player on the ground.

It might have hurt Suh’s case when he sounded defiant during his postgame news conference, insisting he didn’t intentionally step on his opponent. After the Lions criticized his conduct Friday, Suh issued an apology to his teammates, organization and fans — not to Dietrich-Smith — as some around the league said his outburst proved he was the NFL’s dirtiest player.

“I’ll let him speak for himself when he gets that opportunity, but I’ve had a lot of conversations with him the last two days and I think he is in a different spot,” Lions coach Jim Schwartz said Tuesday. “I think his No. 1 thing is, he didn’t want to be a distraction for the team. He … wants to be accountable for his actions.”

Earlier this season, the reigning NFL defensive rookie of the year requested a meeting with commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss his play after he drew several penalties and another fine.

Suh said he had a better understanding of the rules after that meeting four weeks ago. On Sunday, he called Goodell to apologize but that didn’t appear to help.