Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is known as a man of few words, and he lived up to that reputation when asked about his future with the team after playing in what could be his final game in Detroit.
Suh invited his friend and billionaire investor Warren Buffett to Sunday's 16-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. It was the first time Buffett attended a Lions game, and it was widely seen as a gesture marking his final game in Detroit as a Lion. Suh is due to become an unrestricted free agent five days after the Super Bowl when his rookie contract voids.
But Suh — who was not available to reporters after Sunday's game — refused to address the significant of Buffett's visit Wednesday.
"That's your opinion," he said. "I have nothing else to say about it."
OK. Then what did he and Buffett speak about?
"That's private," he said. "I keep it private."
What wasn't so private was Fox's television cameras at Ford Field catching fellow defensive tackle C.J. Mosley sitting next to Suh on the bench with 1:52 left. Fans behind the bench were imploring Suh not to leave, and Mosley joined in, extending his arm and visibly mouthing the words, "Don't go, baby. Don't go."
"That's my guy, man," Mosley said. "Suh makes the game a lot easier and a lot funner. Great person, as far as what he means to Detroit, to the organization, the city.
"In my time in this league, I've never seen a defensive tackle so dominant just every game, week in and week out, somebody that competes as hard as him. And he's relatively quiet, but when he wants to be heard, man, you're going to hear him. So, it's just an honor to be next to him and fight with the guy."
Suh said he hasn't done any reflecting on his time in Detroit because he's consumed with preparing for the Chicago Bears this week. He also said he didn't pay attention to fans and Mosley imploring him to stay.
"The game wasn't over," he said. "I was focusing on the game. I told C.J. to be quiet."
Mosley has shared his thoughts privately with Suh, who is the main reason the Lions have had one of the best defenses this season. But Mosley, who also will be a free agent after this season, would not say that he has tried to recruit Suh.
"That's not our job," Mosley said. "Like he said, I think his agent's going to take care of that. So we'll leave it to that. Of course, I've had my words with him."
Mosley knows what the rest of the Lions know and what just about every opposing offense knows. Suh makes a huge difference.
"He's irreplaceable," Mosley said. "Irreplaceable. There's only a few guys that can dominate the game like that."
Suh also gets credit for playing through a nasty illness that kept him out of the first practice of his NFL career last week. Suh missed only 10 defensive snaps and still had a sack and played a major factor in controlling the line of scrimmage.
But Suh wanted no praise for his sacrifice.
"Things happen," he said. "Like I said before, it was maybe three or four weeks ago, we all have situations that we have to deal with. I'm not going to sit here and pump myself up for having to deal with an illness, and I played through it and played a good game.
"It's something that every athlete has to go through — you've seen (Michael) Jordan do it, you've seen many other people do it. So, it's nothing different than you having to deal with an ankle injury or a knee, whatever it may be."
