If you ask the Eagles, oft-maligned Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs may have crossed the line in Philadelphia’s 40-17 win over Baltimore Saturday night. It was quarterback Sam Bradford’s first game since undergoing reconstructive knee surgery for a second time last year, and some Eagles players thought Suggs went too far when he struck Bradford’s knees while the quarterback was rolling out for a read option.
Eagles players rip Terrell Suggs for ‘cheap shot’ at Sam Bradford’s knees
Offensive lineman Jason Peters said Suggs is a “dirty player,” and called for the league to discipline the hard-hitting linebacker.
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"He was trying to take a cheap shot at the quarterback," Eagles left tackle Jason Peters said, via the Baltimore Sun. "I’m pretty sure he planned it. I mean, we’ve practiced against them all week, so he was probably thinking about it."
Peters went on to say he thinks Suggs -- who was hit with a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty after he roughed up Bradford -- should face disciplinary action.
“I hope so, because he hit him low and he tried to hit him around his knees,” Peters said. “I really don’t know him personally. He talks a lot, and I think he’s that type of player, who is dirty and will take shots on the quarterback.”
NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino weighed in on the debate Monday on NFL Network, and said Suggs’ hit was clean.
“If the quarterback has an option, he’s considered a runner until he either clearly doesn’t have the football or he re-establishes himself as a passer,” Blandino said, via Pro Football Talk. “So it’s not a foul by rule.”
Peters is far from the first player who has called out Suggs. Just last November, then-Steelers running back LeGarrette Blount said Suggs is "known to be a dirty player" after the tenacious linebacker took a seemingly ill-advised shot at his legs in a game.
Bradford, who stayed in the game Saturday following the hit and finished 3 of 5 for 35 yards, expressed his frustration afterward as well.
“I was a little upset,” Bradford said. “I’m not sure if I can repeat what I said to him, but it’s part of the game.”
For his part, Suggs expressed little remorse.
“When you run the read option, you’ve got to know the rules,” Suggs said. “If you want to run the read option with your starting quarterback that’s had two knee surgeries, that’s on you. That’s not my responsibility to update you on the rules, you see what I’m saying? I could have hit him harder than that. I didn’t. I eased up.”
Suggs has complained before about the protections quarterbacks receive. Going after Bradford’s surgically reconstructed knees in a preseason game, however, seems to be a potentially destructive way to prove a point.
But though it may be destructive, it is legal. Blandino cleared that point up.
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