Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh has made stops at five NFL teams since being drafted as the second overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. But it was only after a decade in the league that he won the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2020 season. It was the only Super Bowl in his career. Yet out of Suh’s wildest career moments, that Super Bowl holds a place as he taught Patrick Mahomes a lesson.
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“No, not one bit,” Suh said when asked whether he was fearing to face off against Mahomes on the October 8th episode of the “High Performance” podcast. “One, because we had played against them earlier in that year, and I think I’d maybe played against them one or two other times prior to that, but it’s like one, there’s no quarterback in this world that puts fear in my heart, and if there is, there’s a big problem. I shouldn’t be playing anymore.
“But two, he puts on his pants no different than I put my pants on. And limiting him was my ultimate goal because he was really the only one that could beat us. If your quarterback is on the ground and running for his life, which he was that entire game, you have no chance of beating us because one, we’ve got one of the greatest quarterbacks in the world. And I know they’re going to put up points. There’s no doubt about that.”
Suh helped the Bucs secure their championship by relentlessly pressuring Mahomes. It was two years after Mahomes received his first MVP honor in 2018. So, the craze was at its peak. In the postseason, he was on a heater after scoring one touchdown against the Cleveland Browns and three against the Buffalo Bills. Hardly did he realize that he would witness a poor fate in the hands of Suh soon. The Bucs sacked Mahomes thrice.
“The feeling when you sack Patrick Mahomes?” asked the host on the podcast.
“Uh, multiple sacks. Uh, I mean, tons of excitement. I mean, I don’t think even throughout the playoffs, I don’t think I got any sacks throughout the playoffs, but I got I should have had two. He’s actually pretty good. He just takes it and moves on.”
While Tampa Bay held a 31-9 lead in the fourth quarter, Suh recorded 1.5 sacks on the same drive, setting the Chiefs back at least eight yards on each play. His second sack, alongside Cam Gill, came after a forceful hit that knocked the ball loose from Mahomes.
The Bucs put Mahomes under pressure 29 times, setting a Super Bowl record, according to ESPN. Per Next Gen Stats, Mahomes traveled 497 yards behind the line of scrimmage before he was sacked or threw the ball away.
Suh and the overall defense’s contribution also got a shoutout from 7x Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady.
“DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS,” wrote the GOAT on his Instagram story after the game.
Talking about how Suh proved his dominance against Mahomes?
Before Super Bowl LV, Patrick Mahomes had not been part of an offense that failed to score a touchdown since his high school days. With his college passer rating being an impressive 152.0 at Texas Tech, the game against the Bucs arguably marked the worst outing of his career.
“Obviously I didn’t play the way I wanted to play,” Mahomes said after the game. “But what else can you say? All you can do is leave everything on the field, and I feel like the guys did that. They were the better team today.”
A dark day in Mahomes’ history is undoubtedly the most cherished memory for Suh. He will be carrying it for a lifetime after retiring in July last year, while Mahomes continues to play.