Pablo, I NEVER consider a QB to be "can't miss" no matter what. You just never know with that position. For the others, character, attitiude, and work ethic top the list. Talent is secondary to those first three issues. There are plenty of college players that have talent, but very few who meet the first three criteria. When you can combine the four, it's a winner. Of course, there are many players who might fail at one of those criteria, and become a dominant player in the NFL, but those are the exception and not the rule.

The only cheapness there was on Suh's behalf. He could have followed through and probably hit Romo harder simply by landing on him, and there would likely have been no call. However, when you extend your arms, intend to hit a Qb in the head, and make contact, you're going to get called every time. It was a stupid penalty, flat out, and Suh needs to stop these mental errors before it costs us a game.

Sorry, but I completely disagree. Suh didn't extend his arms to hit Romo is the head, I think he's a bit smarter than that. I've watched that play over and over, and what Suh did was extend him arms to knock down the pass, no differently than other linemen do in the same situation. What is different is that he was coming in at such an angle that when he left his feet his forward momentum took him toward Romo and he made a slight amount of contact. I think it's something that was an unfortunate circumstance without intent to injure or hurt, and as such he didn't get fined for it (that I know of).

In truth, I've seen other situations this season where a QB was hit in the helmet or facemask harder than what Suh did, and didn't draw a flag. I understand that the flag is supposed to be thrown in both cases, but the consistency just isn't there. That's the issue I have.

Agreed. Just because it was a penalty doesn't mean that it was stupid or cheap. Any contact with the QB's head is going to draw a flag. However, Suh's hands were up before he slid around the block and hit Romo, so it's not like he targeted the head.

A penalty like this may cost the Lions a game eventually, but I think the "fear factor" that Suh & Company generate is probably going to win a few games. Romo's 3rd INT was a product of Suh's rush, which led to 7 Lions points. The Suh penalty led to 3 Cowboys points, so if we look at Suh's worst play vs. his most impactful play, we're talking about a net result of +4 points for the Lions. I'll take that any day.

Margin of Victory....

The ball was already out, it was clearly over Suh's head, and he extended his arms into the face mask of Romo. He could have followed through with his hit and not extended his arms, and all would likely have been fine, but he didn't.

Here's the play here... Right around the 1:43 mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubwV-KGI ... re=related

It was just plain stupid.

Oh my God WJB

Yes, the ball was out......for about two tenths of a second, during which Suh had already committed himself to getting his hands up. As a matter of fact, he barely got his hands up and barely brushed Romos facemask. I'd call that light incidental contact, as much brought about by Romo ducking his head slightly as Suh having his hands up.

The more I watch it, the more I think it was a BS call, and not a BS move by Suh. And before you say a damn thing...if this had been Ware hitting Stafford in the same fashion, I'd call BS on that penalty as well, much like I did when Dorsey was flagged for roughing in the KC game.

There was no way for Suh to stop him momentum or his hands being up. He had no way of knowing, when he committed himself, that Romo would release the ball.

I can't agree. I don't know where you get this .02 of a second crap, or being "committed" to bashing someone in the face, but he could have definitely pulled his hands back down and not followed through with hitting his helmet.

Oh yeah....I wanna see you do that, while in mid air, in about a fifth of a second.

A typical person can travel over 10 feet in a second at a jogging pace. He was at close to top speed, and far less than 10 feet away from Romo when the ball was released....yet he's expected to somehow stop his momentum, bring his arms down, change his direction......

Christ, you are unrealistic.

I never said that he should have been able to avoid the collision, go look...

I've said all along that he most likely wouldn't have gotten penalized had he not used his foreams to touch his helmet.

And the fact is he had no time to do any of what you are saying. He had already started to put his hands up. He was five feet away from Romo when the ball was released (that's on the video) and he had about two tenths of a second to react. Basically, that's the blink of an eye.

And now you go look....when Romo followed through he brought himself into Suh just as much as Suh brought himself into Romo. If Suh had not had his hands up, he would have gone helmet to helmet with Romo.

It was a BS call. Not late, and the facemask contact (not helmet) was as much the fault of Romo as Suh, if not moreso.

M2... He CONTINUED to shove his hands TOWARD Romo's face THROUGHOUT the entire hit. He didn't start to put them up and stop, he didn't try to pull back, he continued to extend his arms throughout the entire play. He did NOT have to do that. At some point you can see the ball, see the Qb, and at the very least, stop extending your arms.

We'll agree to disagree.

We finally get a great player on defense and all some people want to do is castrate him.

Shakes his head in disgust and walks away.