ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Darryl Tapp was sitting in the front of the Detroit Lions defensive line room Monday afternoon when he heard the door open in the back of the room. Then he heard it close again, open again and his head coach Jim Caldwell was standing in front of the linemen, explaining what had just happened.
The Lions were in the midst of watching tape of the Dallas Cowboys when Caldwell said the Lions’ top defensive lineman, Ndamukong Suh, had been suspended for Sunday’s wild-card playoff game.
“He just wanted to let us know so we wouldn’t be blindsides when y’all started asking us questions,” Tapp said. “Like ‘You hear about Suh?’ ‘No.’ He just wanted to let us know what the current situation was.”
Tapp said he and the rest of the defensive line found out about a half-hour before Lions met with the media for their first open locker room session of the week. Tapp said Suh did not address his teammates following the announcement of the suspension because Suh had to leave the facility immediately.
The Lions players said they were not disappointed in Suh, but many were disappointed in the situation and felt Suh’s stepping on the calf and ankle of Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers was not intentional.
“No, there’s no disappointment in him,” safety James Ihedigbo said. “It’s one of those things. I saw the video. I was hoping he was going to get fined for it and we would move on and that would be the end of it.
“His suspension, I probably speak for myself and the rest of the guys, we have his back no matter what. He’s one of us. He’s our brother and we’ll support him and work towards getting this win so he can be back.”
To do this, the Lions are going to need to figure out a way to replace their most dominant defensive player and how to compensate for his presence on the defensive line. Suh constantly commanded double teams from opponents and teams would have to scheme differently than they do against other teams just to handle him.
His suspension -- if upheld -- leaves Detroit without two of its three first round picks on the defensive line from recent years. Besides Suh, the team’s first round pick in 2010, Caldwell said it would need to be “a miracle” if 2011 first round pick, defensive tackle Nick Fairley, played Sunday against Dallas.
With Fairley out, the Lions will have decisions to make on the defensive front. Tackle C.J. Mosley, who has been starting in Fairley’s place since his injury in Week 8, will remain one starter at tackle. The Lions could either move defensive ends Jason Jones or Tapp inside or start tackle Andre Fluellen at the other tackle spot if Suh is out.
The Lions understand the loss of Suh, but they are hoping the other defensive linemen call fill in with a reasonable facsimile of what they were doing before.
“We’re like Yahtzee,” Tapp said. “You just throw four out there. We make things happen.”
The Lions defense will need to make a lot of things happen, collectively, if they want to stop the league’s leading rusher, DeMarco Murray, without their most dominant defensive lineman.
“It would be a big blow to this defense,” linebacker Tahir Whitehead said. “If we don’t have him this week.”