“I have a heat-seeking missile type of mentality - you always have some kind of villain”
Friday 17 March 2017 12:47, UK
Is the most dangerous man in the NFL mellowing with age? Sky Sports met Ndamukong Suh, and found out the hard way…
He has stamped, kicked and grabbed face-masks aplenty. There have been throat slashing gestures, a who's who of hospitalised quarterbacks, and incidents simply deemed as unnecessary roughness. But Ndamukong Suh is a lovable rogue when you meet him until the conversation turns to "smashing people".
"The NFL always has the pretty boy, the golden child," Suh exclusively told Sky Sports, as the first signs of menace bubble to the surface. "Then you always have some kind of villain. The successful golden boys usually stay the same, but they pick and choose the villains."
I'm in the zone, I understand what I have to get done, and what to accomplish. I will pretty much do anything to get that accomplished.
Suh's body language changes when he snarls about hand-picked "pretty boys" - his 6'4'', 22-stone frame suddenly seems to grow. The defensive tackle for the Miami Dolphins makes a living from flattening famous faces from rival franchises, constantly teetering on the verge of legality as one player after another crumples beneath him.
"I have a heat-seeking missile type of mentality, and I've always had that. I'm in the zone, I understand what I have to get done, and what to accomplish," he said. "I will pretty much do anything to get that accomplished."
Is that his biggest attribute? "Yes, no question," Suh says.
His commitment to the cause has led to unrivalled aggression - in seven seasons he has paid record fines of more than $420,000 for on-field incidents. His peers once voted him the dirtiest player in the league, but he doesn't flinch when reminded of this dubious honour.
Suh's favourite player to crash into, he says, is Tom Brady - "The one I remember was Thanksgiving in Detroit. I sacked him on the side-line to get him off the field - that was a lot of fun!
"He definitely looks out for me, and I look out for him. I try to hit him as much as I can.
"It's a great feeling to smash another man," he laughs.
Brady definitely looks out for me, and I look out for him. I try to hit him as much as I can.
The taming of the Suh? Now aged 30, the Dolphins' defensive tackle has survived two seasons without a single fine or suspension. There have been skirmishes (Quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Ben Roethlisberger will have painful memories in particular) but the years have passed, uncharacteristically, without major incident.
"I'm not a villain," Suh smiles, although you get the impression he'd resist the tag of a hero even more strongly.
"I'm a simple guy who loves what he does, and wants to have fun with it. I play with the same energy as I did when I was younger. But I have a better understanding of how to be successful, at a higher rate.
"I look at things differently because the older you get, hopefully the wiser you get, and you get a better understanding of how to play the game."
Perhaps the record-breaking contract Suh signed in summer 2015 has matured him. With $60 million guaranteed over six years, plus a signing bonus of $25 million, Suh became the highest-paid defensive player ever after leaving the Detroit Lions. A target was drawn on his back.
"Opponents still look at me in the same way," he says. "They credit me and view me as someone they have to account for, and that's because I do my job by being a dominant force in the middle."
He speaks with great responsibility about his father's homeland of Cameroon, where the name Ndamukong translates as 'House of Spears'.
"It means a great deal. It comes from my great-grandfather who was a police chief in Cameroon. I have heritage of royalty, and it's something I've been proud of from a very young age.
"I've always had a unique name, and knew it meant a lot to my family as well as the country of Cameroon, so I hold it with great pride."
It's less than a fortnight since minor knee surgery cleaned out the problems every NFL player suffers with during the close-season. When asked how long his body can sustain such hits, Suh provides a revealing insight into how an elite athlete must think.
Everybody worries about their health, and thinks about being a healthy person and living a long life. So people understand concussions, but I believe in a higher power.
"I think it's mental. Physically, I can play for a long as I wish but I haven't decided [how long] yet. I'm all good. I think everybody has a few injuries at this time of year, it's a league with a 100 per cent injury rate."
Does Suh consider the impact of concussions? "Everybody thinks about it, whether you play football or basketball, or you're a regular person," he says.
"Everybody worries about their health, and thinks about being a healthy person and living a long life. So people understand concussions, but I believe in a higher power that always allows you to do what you do, and be safe."
His faith, he insists, keeps him safe throughout such unbridled physicality: "Not everything is in your hands."
The menace returns to Suh's face when asked if his aggression is diminishing: "No, I wouldn't say so," he says. Suh's on-field volatility cannot be controlled, beware anyone who tries to tame him.
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