Such addresses lawsuit, last years season.

[tbone413]

Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh on Friday addressed the lawsuit filed against him and gave his most extensive comments about why his second NFL season fell fall short of his spectacular All-Pro rookie year.

Saadia Van Winkle, a passenger in a one-car accident Suh was involved in last December, filed a lawsuit Thursday for more than $1 million in Oregon circuit court.

?Basically, because it being in litigation, I cannot speak on it and all questions should be referred to my lawyers and my counsel,? Suh said. ?So I appreciate your guys? patience with that and understanding and I?m more than happy to talk about football.?

Van Winkle alleges Suh engaged in negligence, reckless driving and intentional infliction of emotional distress after he crashed his 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS into a light pole, drinking fountain and tree Dec. 3 in Portland.

?Ms. Van Winkle was a passenger in a vehicle Mr Suh was driving last December when he was involved in an unfortunate accident,? Suh?s attorney, Mike Lehner, said in a written statement Friday. ?Ms. Van Winkle suffered minor injuries in that accident, was examined at the hospital and released that night. Mr. Suh immediately called 911 to report the accident and told the police exactly what happened. After a thorough investigation by the police they determined no citation should be issued.

?Mr. Suh acknowledges Ms. Van Winkle should receive fair compensation for any injury she sustained or medical expense or wage loss she incurred and Mr. Suh has attempted to resolve the matter fairly with her. She has rejected those attempts and has now filed a lawsuit against Mr. Suh asking for more than $1,000,000. According to that lawsuit, she has incurred approximately $4,000 in medical expenses, and lost wages in the amount of $2500. Mr. Suh denies many of the allegations in the complaint, but now it appears a jury will have to decide how to fairly compensate Ms. Van Winkle for her injury.?

According to the complaint, Suh showed up at Van Winkle?s house the day after the accident and offered Van Winkle $700 ?in an effort to buy her silence.? Van Winkle?s attorney, Sarah Nelson, said the money came in a card that Suh gave to Van Winkle?s husband.

Suh sidestepped several questions about the lawsuit and said it would not be a distraction for him on the field.

?You see the smile on my face,? he said. ?I?m excited. I?m excited to be here for football.?
In May, Suh admitted his second season was ?indifferent? after he produced only four sacks and 26 tackles and was suspended two games for stomping on Green Bay?s Evan Dietrich-Smith. As a rookie, Suh had 10 sacks and 49 tackles.

?I think it was my approach,? Suh said of last season. ?I didn?t like my approach. I look back on that particular season, especially compared to my rookie season, and I?m excited.
?I have another great chance. I?m healthy. I put a lot of work in, had a great minicamp, in my opinion.?

But Suh was evasive about the details of his faulty approach.
?Really just kind of the mindset and what my particular goals were and focusing on the correct things,? he said. ?There?s really some foundational things that in my game I need to focus on before I can get to obviously the exciting pieces of making sacks and doing all those particular things.?

Suh said his new approach involves technique and an increased attention to detail, although those details remain a secret. But he said being simply good isn?t good enough.
?No, not at all,? he said. ?I would hope to be great. Hopefully, I plan to be like guys that hopefully I?ve seen play: Warren Sapp, Mean Joe Greene, all those guys that you know them for a reason.?

Greene and Sapp each tried to reach out to Suh and the Lions last season to help his performance. But Suh was coy about whether he worked with them.
?Maybe, maybe not,? he said. ?We?ll just have to wait until after this season and then I?ll tell you.?

Lions coaches have talked about moving Suh around on the line to create mismatches. Suh said that plan echoes some of the reasons for his rookie success.
"I think it?ll be definitely effective, just from the simple fact that people don?t know where we?re going to be,? he said. ?We might line up and go somewhere else.

?I look back to my rookie season when we did a little bit of that. I think it was very successful, even though our record didn?t really reflect that. But I?m excited about it.?

 

[tbone413]

It's really bugs me the way some people try to take advantage of famous people. I know there are lots of benefits to being rich, but that shouldnt mean people should expect you to pay for their every need.

I think Suh realized that last year was a big disappointment and he needs to make some changes in his attitude / approach if he wants to repeat his dominate rookie season. I'm hoping that he comes in with a chip on his shoulder and focuses on being a leader on the field with his play.

I don't know how much of a benefit it would be for him to talk with Sapp or Greene, but perhaps they could teach him how to play on the fine line between being physical/mean and dirty.

 

[tonyballs]

Suh is talking to Sapp and Greene about FOOTBALL, not on how to be a person off the field. Who the hell would listen to Sapp about life values? The guy is a meathead, but one of the most dominant DLinemen to ever play the game. Same goes for Mean Joe Greene. If they reached out to Suh about football, Suh better have opened his ears and eyes.

 

[wheels002]

I get the feeling that Suh would listen to them about the game. His problem was he let his intensity get the best of him. The other teams would do little things to piss him off hoping he would blow up and sadly he did. I really expect big things from him this year. I also think he had to many things off the field going on and he seems to have toned that down.