How Ndamukong Suh Went from Badass to Jackass

Ndamukong Suh is a bad man.

Now, whether he is the kind of bad that has you clapping or sneering is open to some conjecture.

Follow as we break down the fallout from the big man and his sharp words and fierce actions following the Lions' and Falcons' clash. 

Suh remains the most polarizing player in the NFL. You either laud him as the baddest pass-rusher in the business or chide him as a dirty player who has no thoughts of protecting his fellow man. 

The truth may lie in the gray area of a player who is far more myth than defensive tackle. Like Shaquille O'Neal and other giants of sport, it all depends on what glasses you are using to view his exploits.

The latest being Matt Ryan, an injured ankle and an irate Roddy White. 

Ryan injured his ankle, an event that set off a chain of events that once again sees Suh as a football villain. 

NBC Sports reports on the aftermath of that awkward-looking ankle roll. Falcons receiver Roddy White blasted Suh and Cliff Avril for taunting an injured Ryan.

So how did Suh respond? He is quoted as such:

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"Do I need Rodney White’s respect? No. Leave it at that. I'm not even near their quarterback so how am I going to trash talk somebody that has a medical staff that’s all around him? To me it's karma. For all the bad stuff they’ve done in the past, their offensive lineman hurt their own quarterback. So I'll leave it at that."

 

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And so we have an injured quarterback, an irate receiver and a big man who was nowhere near the play.

(We also have Suh calling Roddy, Rodney.)

Let's see how Twitter paints the picture. 

Andrew Siciliano tweets the beginnings of the rumor mill. 

Dan Wetzel tells a completely different tale with his set of tweets. 

And this. 

This lovely tweet sums up how the mighty have fallen in the scope of the national spotlight. 

The tale is far from over.

White had a response to Suh that was picked up by NBC Sports late Monday evening:

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"I mean I don't really have much to say about what [Ndamukong Suh] said. I just know he's going to say whatever he wants to say, but we know what they said. We were standing right there in the huddle, we saw when he went down and that's before the medical staff got there that they said was in front of the play...

"I know Suh said what he said. He said, 'Go get the cart for him, get him out of here.' He knows he said that and we’re not going to go back and forth about what he said-she said.  And then he's going to say it was karma for what we've done in the past when their quarterback gets hurt on the last play of the game and they have an MRI today."

 

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One of the toughest defenders to block is being labeled at the moment, and we have the ability to see it all unfold. How does one go from possible legend to dirty player?

All it takes is an ill-timed injury and a few tasty soundbites. 

It doesn't matter who leads the discussion. You already have a very real and strong emotion about Suh. 

Is he dirty? Is he merely dominant? The fact that we can't quite answer the question has me confident that he is certainly the most puzzling figure in the NFL. 

When you are as passionate and dominant as Suh is, you are going to anger pretty much anyone not claiming the Lions as their own. 

The man has been pigeonholed, and there is nothing he can do about it. He is now the biggest villain in the sport, and I say he should embrace it with every fiber of his being, because the rest of the NFL is doing the same thing right now.