No Cry baby
Matt Schaub has no use for Ndamukong Suh: Damning indictment of dirty,soon-to-be suspended star
DETROIT — Matt Schaub may be the least controversial and most courteous player in pro football.
The Houston Texans quarterback goes out of his way to never ever say anything that could even remotely cause trouble — for him or anyone else in the game. What's largely been lost in the rising furor over Ndamukong Suh's quick kick to Schaub's groin is the quarterback's own take on the Detroit Lions problem creator.
"You know, I really don't have anything to say about that play or that person," Schaub said.
Matt Schaub is no cry baby. He's the antithesis of the boy who cried wolf.
From Matt Schaub, that is about as damning an indictment as you can get.
This is the quarterback who went out of his way to say he had no ill feelings toward the Denver Bronco who took off a chunk of his ear on an illegal hit earlier this season. And that came on the second of back-to-back penalized hits on Schaub by a Broncos defense that he was absolutely taking apart at the time, a defense with plenty of motivation try and knock him out of the game.
Schaub is no cry baby. He's the antithesis of the boy who cried wolf. If Matt Schaub had been that boy, the real wolf would have had no chance. Schaub doesn't raise his voice unless it's a crisis.
And his stance on Suh — his dismissal of another NFL player as "that person" — should be another mark against the mayhem maker voted the dirtiest player in the NFL long before this new Thanksgiving kick.
This is the QB who went out of his way to say he had no ill feelings toward the Bronco who took off a chunk of his ear.
We can all break down the video (watch above) and dissect what clearly seems to be a second kicking motion from Suh, but the players on the field (specifically Suh and Schaub in this case) already know the real score. And for Schaub to go out of his way to not defend Suh screams plenty.
If Schaub thought it was an accident, his history says that he'd be the first to step up and say so. Instead, he immediately went over to Texans coach Gary Kubiak and complained about the kick.
And everyone knows what Suh's own history suggests.
Another suspension appears to be forthcoming for Suh (likely to be announced Monday). "It doesn't look good," NFL executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson admitted to ESPN when asked about Suh's foot ending up in a quarterback's groin.
Sports talk radio in Detroit is abuzz with debate over whether the Lions would just be better off if they cut their loses with Suh and tried to trade the No. 2 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft in the offseason.
Suh did himself no favors when he disappeared from the Detroit Lions locker room after the Texans' 34-31 overtime win without talking to any reporters. Does an innocent man run from the scene of a crime?
But Schaub's pointed words on the subject — as sparse as they were — ring even louder.
The Texans quarterback is about the last player who'd throw another NFL peer under the bus without cause.
"I won’t go there," Kubiak said of Suh's kick. "I didn’t like it. Obviously. I let the official know.
"And Matt told me about it and I said, ‘I don’t care. You’ve still got to make the throw anyway.’ He didn’t like that.”
Of course, Schaub didn't complain about his own coach's comment either. He just went out and won another football game.
