FILE - In this file photo taken Nov. 24, 2011, Green Bay Packers' Evan Dietrich-Smith (62) lies at the feet of Detroit Lions' Ndamukong Suh, right, during a third quarter incident in their NFL football game in Detroit. Suh was ejected from the game after he stepped on the Packers offensive lineman. (AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Julian H. Gonzalez, File)
FILE - In this file photo taken Nov. 24, 2011, Green Bay Packers' Evan Dietrich-Smith (62) lies at the feet of Detroit Lions' Ndamukong Suh, right, during a third quarter incident in their NFL football game in Detroit. Suh was ejected from the game after he stepped on the Packers offensive lineman. (AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Julian H. Gonzalez, File)
FILE - In this file photo taken Nov. 24, 2011, Detroit Lions' Ndamukong Suh (90) gets pushed away by Green Bay Packers' Scott Wells, left, and Marshall Newhouse, back, after an incident in the third quarter of an NFL football game in Detroit. Suh was ejected from the game after he stepped on a Packers offensive lineman. (AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Julian H. Gonzalez, File)
FILE - In this file photo taken Nov. 24, 2011, Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (90) is ejected by an official after an incident against a Green Bay Packers player in the third quarter of an NFL football in Detroit. (AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Kirthmon F. Dozier, file)
Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (90) talks with head coach Jim Schwartz during the third quarter of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers in Detroit, on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. Suh was ejected from the game after he stepped on an opposing offensive lineman. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
FILE - In this file photo taken Nov. 24, 201, Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz talks with defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (90) as he leaves the field after being disqualified in the third quarter during an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field in Detroit. The Packers won 27-15. Suh was ejected from the game after he stepped on a Packers offensive lineman. (AP Photo/The Detroit News, Robin Buckson, File)
DETROIT (AP) ? Mean Joe Greene knows what it's like to be regarded as a nasty player in the NFL.
The Hall of Famer hopes Ndamukong Suh's name doesn't get stuck in the mud for the rest of his career.
Suh snapped on Thanksgiving Day and stomped on Green Bay's Evan Dietrich-Smith, adding fuel to the discussion of where the Detroit Lions defensive tackle ranks among the league's dirtiest players.
San Francisco 49ers center Jonathan Goodwin said Suh is at the top of the list.
"As of right now, you've got to look at him that way," Goodwin said Monday. "You don't see too many guys stomp on a guy. To me a dirty player is a guy that's doing stuff after the play."
Suh's after-the-whistle stomp is expected to lead to an NFL suspension.
He's in the spotlight for his actions, but players have crossed the line since the league was born and probably always will do so at football's highest level.
"If it happens in the game, there's a place for it," Greene said Monday night in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "If you haven't played interior defensive line, you won't know and you'll never know what it's like in there.
"I don't think anything that happens on the field is dirty, but Suh shouldn't have done what he did. He let the moment get away."
Suh got tangled on the turf with guard Dietrich-Smith, and his reaction may hurt him and his team, which is trying to make the playoffs for the first time this century.
He pushed Dietrich-Smith's helmet down as he got up, raised his right knee and stepped down hard on the Packers player's right arm while he lay defenseless on the ground.
Following the ejection and the loss, Suh didn't apologize. The next day after the team released a statement calling his conduct unacceptable, Suh did acknowledge making a mistake.
Greene, who helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win four Super Bowls during his career from 1969-81, recalled getting his nickname "Mean" because he played for the Mean Green at North Texas.
"When I got drafted, they called me Mean Joe Greene and it stuck," the former star defensive tackle said. "Then, I got kicked out of a ballgame my rookie year and I couldn't shake that nickname.
"I hope what Suh did doesn't give him a bad rap because he's an outstanding talent."
Suh's unique skill set and relentless passion helped him be the only rookie on the All-Pro team last year and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
His rough play, though, has put a $42,500 dent in his bank account entering this week. His latest misstep will likely prove the most costly. Suh was fined in August for a third time in less than a year for roughing up quarterbacks. He grabbed Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton and threw him to the turf after he had gotten rid of the ball in a preseason game this year.
"That kind of stuff's just stupid," Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth said Monday. "I'm not going to give him credit and say he's a dirty player. That's just cheap, that's not dirty. You can grab a quarterback and throw them down when they're not expecting it, it doesn't make you tough."
Suh was docked twice last year for shoving Chicago's Jay Cutler high in the back and for twisting Cleveland's Jake Delhomme's face mask and slamming him to the ground.
He has been able to absorb the fines, making $40 million guaranteed with a chance to get paid as much as $68 million in his five-year contract he signed after Detroit drafted the former Nebraska star No. 2 overall in 2010.
"He plays aggressive," Denver defensive lineman Jason Hunter said. "Suh is a passionate guy. He plays the game how you're supposed to play it: nasty, fierce, ferocious, intimidator. I mean, in this age, people forget how football was played back in the day. How he's playing, that's how it was played. Now, it's evolved so that way is kind of frowned upon. But back in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, football was played worse than what Suh was doing."
Suh's reputation has had to take a lot of hits and he knew that even before his latest gaffe.
He requested and received a meeting earlier this season with Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss his play and claimed he came away from the visit in New York with a better understanding how he needs to play to help his team win.
Suh's stomp startled many viewers, who tuned in on Thanksgiving. But Matt Millen, echoing Hunter's comments, said he'd seen that and worse up close many times during his career that started a few decades ago with the notorious Oakland Raiders.
"I played against Conrad Dobler, who would bite or kick you, and what Ndamukong did in comparison is small potatoes," said Millen, a four-time Super Bowl-winning linebacker and former Lions general manager. "What he did was par for the course back in the day.
"If he did that then, he'd still be playing, but it's a different game now."
The NFL fines players weekly for being too rough for today's standards.
Albert Haynesworth set the bar low for an ugly act that got him suspended for five games in 2006. Then with the Tennessee Titans, he raked his cleats across the head of helmetless Dallas center Andre Gurode.
"Haynesworth got a bad rap for that and I don't know if he ever recovered," Greene told The AP. "I hope the same thing doesn't happen with Suh. He's got a volatile attitude inside him that helps him refuse to be denied. That puts him on the edge ? and sometimes over the edge."
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AP Sports Writers Janie McCauley in Santa Clara, Calif., Joe Kay in Cincinnati, Will Graves in Pittsburgh, and AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Stapleton in Denver contributed to this report.
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Follow Larry Lage on Twitter at www.twitter.com/larrylage
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