'Not Out Of The Question' Suh Could Miss Sunday's Game, Caldwell Says

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh did not participate in the portion of Friday's practice open to media. Lions head coach Jim Caldwell had said earlier he expected Suh would take part in at least part of practice, though he did not know how much.

Suh and linebacker Josh Bynes both missed Thursday's practice with an illness, but Bynes returned Friday, at least in the portion open to media. Caldwell did not rule out the possibility one or both players could miss Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings as a result of the bug.

"I don't have an indication that will happen, but it's not out of the question," Caldwell said.

The coach said the Lions have done all they can to ensure other players do not come down with the same sickness.

"The ones that have been stricken with it, we certainly try to remove them from the location until we can kind of make certain it's under control, but you know how it is," Caldwell said. "It's just like any other setting where people are communal that you're going to have bugs sometimes kind of hop around, and we try to take all the precautions we possibly can. Until they come up with a cure for it, we're subject to it just like everybody else in society."

The practice Suh missed Thursday was the first missed practice in his career, excluding the ones missed during his 2011 suspension. Remarkably durable, Suh has not missed even a single game for health reasons over the course of his career.

Caldwell reflected on how different the defense would look without Suh, and while the coach did not come to a conclusion, he said he would rather not see the result.

"I'm not certain, and I certainly don't want to find out Sunday," Caldwell said.

"He's certainly a huge part of what we do," Caldwell continued. "I don't think those that watch and those that understand it ... underestimate the impact that he has on the game even when he's not making tackles. It's probably one of those things that if you had an opportunity to measure it out, it would be substantial because he draws double-teams, he draws sliding protection in his direction, and it enables us to kind of get a sense of what's going to happen, who's going to be free, isolating certain guys. I think that's why you see Ziggy [Ansah]'s production is where it is, George [Johnson]'s production is where it is. All those kind of things happen. Linebackers can run to the ball sometimes a lot more freely because they're doubling him and not climbing to the second level because they're concerned about him making plays. He had three tackles for a loss last week. The guy is a great player, and when you have great players, they typically create opportunities for everybody."