NFL Looking At Suh's Rough Play Against Browns
Lions rookie defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh grabbed Jake Delhomme's face mask, twisted it, wrapped his arms around the Browns quarterback's head and slammed him to the ground.
It was hard to watch - in real time or instant replay.
The Browns hope the NFL looks at it again.
Cleveland coach Eric Mangini expects the league to review Suh's rough treatment of Delhomme in Saturday's exhibition game in Detroit.
In the second quarter, Delhomme was scrambling out of the pocket when he was grabbed by Suh, the No. 2 overall pick in April's draft. Suh flung the 35-year-old to the ground, and Delhomme got up waving his arms in protest. Suh was assessed a 15-yard penalty for the infraction, which seemed severe enough to warrant an ejection.
Mangini said at his news conference Monday that he will ask the league to investigate the play, but he assumed it would do so anyway.
League spokesman Gregg Aiello said in an e-mail the play was being reviewed.
Mangini does not believe there was any intent on the part of Suh, the former Nebraska standout, to injure Delhomme. Mangini was impressed with Suh during Cleveland's predraft evaluations.
``When I met the kid, he was a good kid,'' Mangini said. ``I don't think he's a malicious guy, from what I know about him. It was just a poor decision.''
Mangini would not say if he felt Suh should have been ejected.
``It put the quarterback at risk, but I'm not the official,'' Mangini said. ``You don't want to see that at any point, but my experience with him in the draft process is that he's a good kid and it was just not a great decision.''
Delhomme, too, said he would leave any discipline up to others.
``I'll let the league office handle that,'' Delhomme said with a smile. ``We got a first down out of it and that made me happy.''
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
