Warren Sapp, Hall of Fame candidate and NFL Network analyst, continued to disparage Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, this time on Thursday's edition of "The Jim Rome Show."
"When I sit down and watch the tape, get inside of it, he plays the game with no awareness and just a blindness that I've never seen from a guy with that kind of ability and talent," Sapp said, according to MLive.com. "He's just wasting it. Then you see him make two, three plays a game, and outside of him kicking (Matt Schaub) in the groin, when did he make another play?"
When asked to explain what he meant by Suh's lack of awareness, Sapp said the Lion couldn't diagnose a screen play in third-and-long situations.
"Too many times I watch this young man put blinders on and he's just after the quarterback. They're not going to let you go to the quarterback free, son," Sapp said. "You're not that good of a pass rusher, so realize it's a screen, turn, and go to the ball and help your team."
This isn't the first time Sapp has blasted Suh or the Lions' defense. He has said on NFL Network's "GameDay Morning" that Detroit's defense plays in "waves" and tries just to get up field, which allows it to be beat on "wham" plays and screens because players like Suh don't have gap responsibility.
Sapp chose not to point out to Rome how the team has coached Suh, and instead focused on castigating the defensive tackle for not developing since his rookie season.
"When he hit this league, he was good," Sapp said. "When you talk about 10 sacks, he was real disruptive, but his game hasn't changed. He hasn't evolved. He hasn't evolved as a pass rusher, he hasn't evolved where he can play both sides and become disruptive, where now a team has to do only certain plays.
"When you played me, (Derrick) Brooks and (John) Lynch, you could only run certain plays because you knew I was going to do certain things. Therefore, a lot of things get eliminated. This young man here plays this, 'I'm-stronger-than-you,' beat-the-lineman-down (game) ... no! I mean, ugh."
Follow Kevin Patra on Twitter @kpatra.
