Ndamukong Suh appears to be in the clear on his big hit on Jay Cutler, and the Bears’ quarterback and others said Tuesday that’s just how it should be.
Suh sacked Cutler violently to the ground late in the first half of Monday’s 13-7 Bears win, injuring Cutler’s ribs and resuscitating talk that he’s a dirty player.
A league spokesman said the play was legal, and Cutler said on his weekly radio show on Chicago’s WMVP-AM (1000) that the play was “clean” and Suh is “a good player.”
“It was a tough hit and he caught me just right,” Cutler said on his radio show, via the Chicago Tribune. “It was an awkward fall more than anything.
“I knew it was my ribs and it wasn’t my shoulder or head or anything like that. His knee and the ball got caught in my ribs. ... I knew on my way down it wasn’t going to be good.”
Suh said the hit was “simply a football play” after the game Monday.
With just over five minutes to play in the first half, he flushed Cutler from the pocket, wrangled him by the left arm and flung him hard to the ground, bending him over his left leg.
Bears trainers attended to Cutler on the field as Suh made sure he was OK.
Cutler eventually walked off under his own power, missed one play, returned, then went to the locker room to have his ribs examined.
Redskins release Grant
The Washington Redskins have released running back Ryan Grant and brought back running back Keiland Williams.
Grant was signed last month after a pair of injuries left the backfield depleted behind starter Alfred Morris. The former Green Bay Packers back appeared in only one game with Washington, rushing once for five yards.
Williams was signed Tuesday. He started three games as an undrafted rookie with the Redskins in 2010.
Group unveils stadium plan
A Buffalo development group has unveiled a proposal to build a $1.4 billion waterfront sports and entertainment complex that would include a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills.
Presenting his plan to city officials on Tuesday, Nicholas Stracick described his company’s proposal as having the potential to preserve the Bills long-term future and change the city’s rust-belt image.
Stracick’s company has already spent about $1 million in commissioning leading sports facility architectural firm, HKS Design, to design a site plan. The next step is having the city acquire a 400-acre plot of land currently controlled by the region’s transportation authority.
NFL to give Packers funds
The Green Bay Packers will benefit from an NFL stadium construction program included in the league’s new collective bargaining agreement.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed Tuesday that league owners have approved the Packers’ request for $58 million to help renovate Lambeau Field.
The Packers are in the process of adding about 7,000 seats in the south end zone and have already installed a new sound system, video boards and an entrance. The team’s recent stock sale raised $67 million for the $143 million renovation. The NFL’s contribution will help pay the balance.
San Francisco is the first team receiving money from the program for construction of a new 49ers stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
