I disagree on one point. If this had been any other players involved this would still be talked about. The difference would be that if it had been Matthews that stepped on Stafford EVERY SINGLE PACKER FAN would be screaming ACCIDENTAL. If it would have been some no name lineman stepping on a backup QB the ratios of intentional to accidental would probably be reversed.
The high profile of the players is certainly helping keep the story up there but I think its more because of Suh than Rodgers.
You mentioned this I wonder how many people condemning him actually saw the play at real speed with the entire play not just the two seconds of slo mo footage of him actually standing on the leg or several forward backward replays.
I know I am in the very small majority of Packers fans (maybe the only one) and minority of fans everywhere that don't think this was intentional. The way I saw it was he was moving backwards from being blocked and there is this thing called inertia. You can't just stop a 300 pound object instantly. The first step was obvious (to me) a result of the play. As his right foot was coming down Rodgers leg was underneath and the foot sort of rolls off. Backward momentum carried him back and he stepped on it again with his left leg. Since Aarons leg is higher than the ground when Suh comes to a stop his right foot is going to come off the ground. The only way to prevent that would be to bend his left leg and no one who is moving backward putting pressure on his back is going to do that because they will fall. Its instinctive reaction. Its almost impossible to do stepping backwards from a stand still when you know what is going to happen. Now try it at full speed going backwards when you have no idea what is going on behind you.
As far as his reaction. As a player you watch the action. You concentrate on the ball. You don't pay attention to what is going on behind you away from the ball. Your though process is not going to be I'm going backwards, whats that weird feeling under my foot, my foot came down on something that isn't ground, gee I wonder what it is. It can only be one thing it can only be Aaron's leg I'm going to take another step back and really push off.
Maybe, after Rodgers slaps him on the *** and he is walking away, he may realize what happened and at that point he could have turned around and said Oh gee Aaron did I step on your leg? Are you OK? Does it hurt? here, let me help you up I'm really really sorry. I didn't mean it. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. Or he could have just walked away like most football players do when a play is over.
All that said it could have been intentional but I don't think it was. Bring on the disagree votes
Let's forget about the fact for a minute that Suh's excuse of "numb feet couldn't feel the difference between the ground and a leg" was about as believable as OJ's "The police framed me."
Of course he's treated differently than Matthews. He's earned that with his past behavior. None of us besides Suh knows for sure what he intended, so they have to make an educated guess. They do that based on his past pattern of behavior and dirty play, and likewise if Matthews stepped on Stafford, they would look at 6 years of hard, but fair play and if there was doubt they would likely assume it was not intentional.
Guess what, when you establish yourself as a dirty player like Suh has, you forfeit your right to the benefit of the doubt. I don't know why this is shocking to anyone. Works that same way in real life. If you had two sons, one real troublemaker and another that had never done a thing wrong in their life, and 20 bucks was missing from your wallet, which one would you suspect?