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Minnesota Vikings center John Sullivan spoke on Monday about the low block he received from Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh during an interception return on Sunday. Sullivan was the player who went down on the block, and although he didn't miss a single snap on Sunday, he was later diagnosed with a left knee contusion (a bruise, basically).
On Monday, Sullivan said that his knee is fine, and he also said that he has forgiven Suh for the block.
C John Sullivan says his knee is fine, all forgiven with Suh: "I appreciate the fact he came up to me and said something."
— Pioneer Press (@VikingsNow) September 9, 2013
Sullivan also said on Monday in an interview with KFAN that he doesn't believe Suh was trying to hurt him. However, Sullivan does think "there need be consequences when guys don't respect the careers of other players." In other words, Sullivan believes there should be some discipline for Suh's carelessness, and there probably will be considering it's already been reported that the NFL is looking into the play.
My take on this whole situation is as follows: Suh made a stupid, unnecessary mistake by throwing the block on Sullivan. DeAndre Levy was going to score a touchdown no matter what Suh did, so he shouldn't have bothered with the block. Do I think Suh purposely went low on Sullivan? No. Interception returns are usually quite chaotic, and I doubt in those couple seconds after Levy caught the ball Suh thought to himself, "This is a perfect opportunity to go injure someone with a cheap shot." I do think he was simply trying to throw a block, but he's a defensive tackle, not an offensive lineman, as evidenced by how awful it was.
At the end of the day, Sullivan is fine, and that's the good news. Next time the Lions pick off a pass and have a possible pick-six in the making, perhaps Suh will think twice about throwing that kind of a block, especially behind the play.
Is Suh deserving of a fine for what he did on Sunday? Considering the NFL fines players for virtually every personal foul nowadays, sure. But was that block worthy of a suspension? History of questionable plays or not, I just don't see it. It's not like Suh put a cheap shot on a player who was out of bounds or something like that. He made a mistake in the heat of the moment when he suddenly became a blocker. Fine him all you want, but that was not worthy of a suspension.