Any fans looking forward to seeing rookie DT Ndamukong Suh line up against the very best in the NFL will have to wait until at least next year.
A team release tells us what's up:
The Detroit Lions announced today that DT Ndamukong Suh will undergo shoulder surgery on January 10 and will not play in the 2011 Pro Bowl.
"My thinking (on surgery) was just to make sure I was 100-percent healthy going into the off-season program and to be ready for March and so forth," said Lions DT Ndamukong Suh. "I truly wanted to play in the Pro Bowl, which is a great honor and opportunity."
"It came down to making a decision to play in the Pro Bowl or to have surgery as soon as possible and begin rehab in order to help my team next year achieve our goals of getting into the playoffs and competing for a championship. The organization and I opted to have the surgery now and not wait. I will always put my team first."
"I will still plan to attend the Pro Bowl and support my teammate Calvin Johnson."
Which shoulder? Wait, Suh was playing with a shoulder problem?!? Tom Kowalski tweeted that Martin Mayhew wouldn't specify which shoulder, but the surgery is supposed to be "of the clean-up variety." Suh got banged up mid-game only a couple times this season and he never appeared on any injury reports, so this is definitely surprising news.
It's disappointing news if you wanted to see a Lions defenseman play in the Pro Bowl for the first time since Shaun Rogers in 2005, but more so because surgery is surgery.
Lastly, it's also encouraging to hear he wants to sit out the ever important not-important-at-all Pro Bowl and get it done now before the March mini-camps. If the Lions' curse still existed (it's over, right?!?), he would've played in the meaningless game with whatever little injury he obviously has and would've most likely made it much worse.
By getting it taken care of now, Suh and the Lions are taking no chances and should be, as Suh said, 100-percent healthy going into the offseason programs.
Breathe.