Brian Baldinger’s Effusive Praise of Ndamukong Suh Actually Falls Short
By Zac Snyder
Brian Baldinger recently put together some thoughts on Ndamukong Suh for a blog entry on NFL.com.
"I haven’t seen anyone so dominant entering the league since Haloti Ngata five years ago."
"I’ve never seen anyone play the position quite like Suh. Although I consider Ngata the best at what he does, Suh is a different type of player because he’s not quite as big. If Suh improves like I expect him to, it will be just he and Ngata in this conversation."
While effusive in his praise, I don’t think he’s got it quite right. Let me explain…
Before we get too far along here, you may want to read the full article. Click the thumbnail if you so desire:
Clipped from: blogs.nfl.com (share this clip)
A comparison to Haloti Ngata is high praise as I see no problem with anyone arguing that Ngata is the top defensive tackle in the game right now. That being said, I have a problem with the first quote from Baldinger up above. Suh was the most dominant defensive tackle entering the league since Ngata? Sorry, you’ll have to go back farther than that. Let’s take a look at the rookie seasons of our two players in question to determine if Ngata’s rookie year is an appropriate benchmark for our beloved Mr. Suh.
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/20/2011.
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/20/2011.
The thing about defensive tackles is that they can have a tremendous affect on the game without it showing up on the stat sheet. That better have been the case for Haloti Ngata because it certainly doesn’t show in his rookie stat line. The other problem here is that we know Ndamukong Suh‘s presence was felt beyond the box score as well. He saw some double teams from the first preseason game in Pittsburgh.
Haloti Ngata is coming off his best season as a pro. Incidentally, his stat line for the 2010 season doesn’t look much different than the one Ndamukong Suh just put up as a rookie. Take a look:
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/20/2011.
You may notice the column marked “AV”. This is an attempt at assigning a single numerical value to the season’s performance. While not an exact science, it does provide a ball park comparison.
In general, Brian Baldinger was right to compare Ndamukong Suh with Haloti Ngata but his praise falls short when he likens Suh’s rookie campaign to Ngata’s. The truth is that Suh is a lot more like Ngata now as opposed to then. And so, the best way to close is to quote the last line of Baldinger’s piece:
"It’s the ultimate compliment, really, that Suh doesn’t compare to anyone else in the league."
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