Caldwell Says League Will Look At Suh's Personal Foul Hit To Determine Legality

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Josh McCown took a pounding from several members of the Detroit Lions defense Sunday. Not surprisingly, the hits from All-Pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh drew the most attention.

Twice, Suh hit McCown and followed up with a forearm shot to the head. The first time, referees flagged Suh for a personal foul. The second time, no flag was thrown.

On penalties in general, Lions head coach Jim Caldwell made it clear the Lions do not necessarily agree with every call, and when that is the case, they give the NFL feedback to that end.

"The thing you guys don't have privy to - we speak to our team about them on occasion - we turn in penalties they made," Caldwell said. "To you, you see exactly what's on the sheet and what's called. We have an opportunity to turn them in, to voice our opinion on whether or not they were good or bad or whether the call should have been made or not made, so we have that information as well, so everything you see and read is not always as it is."

Caldwell neither condemned nor condoned Suh's use of his massive forearm, deferring to the judgment of the league on whether such contact is legal.

"When you take a look at it, you can see where his initial contact was made and then from there, obviously, the hand kind of slid up a little bit - or the forearm slid up, and it'll be for the league to make a determination on it because he had two that were almost identical, one on one side of the field, one on the other," Caldwell continued. "One of them was not flagged, but the league will take a look at it and see what they think."

All in all, Suh dominated again Sunday, and the defense totaled six sacks of McCown. Caldwell spoke Monday, as he has many times, on the impact Suh makes by creating opportunities for other players. As the regular season nears its conclusion - and free agency nears its beginning - Suh continues to prove he is the best at his position.

"Like most games he's been playing lately, he's really a force to be reckoned with," Caldwell said. "He's disruptive. He's quick. The normal things that you may attempt to do to some guys at his position - trapping, things of that nature, influencing - he's got such a quick up-field charge that he nullifies that. Often times that's how his [tackles for loss] show up. He hustles, does all the little things right. He's very, very knowledgeable on what happens on the interior play, and I think that shows week in and week out."