NEWARK, N.J. -- Ndamukong Suh made his third Pro Bowl in four years this season, and was named a first-team All-Pro. His peers voted him as one of the two most-feared players in the game.

Even that wasn't enough to silence one of his most outspoken critics.

Ndamukong Suh was the subject of more criticism from former Pro Bowler Warren Sapp this week at the Super Bowl.

Former Pro Bowl defensive tackle Warren Sapp has said in the past that Suh doesn't do enough to capitalize on his physical talent, and that opinion has not changed.

"I don't think the kid wants to learn, because I haven't seen him go anywhere or develop anything," the NFL Network analyst said Tuesday during Super Bowl media day at the Prudential Center in Newark.

"I watched him early in the preseason and he blew out a couple dudes, but then I watched him in the regular season and he went right back to bullrushing."

And that, Sapp says, is the problem. The fourth-year defensive tackle has only one move and is not committed to maxing out his potential.

"(I've) said he was a bullrusher," Sapp said. "He's still a bullrusher."

Suh seemed to improve his game this year, especially against the run. He recorded a tackle on 8.6 percent of opponent rushing plays, a career best.

He finished with only 5.5 sacks, but might have had his best year as a pass rusher as well. He either hurried, hit or sacked the quarterback 72 times, according to Pro Football Focus, blowing away his 10-sack rookie season by 75 percent.

Even his peers voted him the second-most feared player, trailing only teammate Calvin Johnson according to an ESPN player poll.

Suh generally is regarded as one of the three best defensive tackles in the game, along with Tampa Bay's Gerald McCoy and Cincinnati's Geno Atkins. But Sapp said he would take McCoy out of that group, and dismissed Suh as a candidate for the game's best tackle.

"I'd take Gerald right now, because he's the healthiest," said Sapp, dressed dapperly and blinged out with a watch made of instruments from a Boeing 757 jet airplane. "Geno just got hurt. Geno was the heir apparent to the throne until he went down in Miami. Bad night.

"But Suh? He's just a bullrusher."

Suh wasn't at Super Bowl media days to offer a defense, but former teammate Cliff Avril was. And Avril, who played alongside Suh on Detroit's defensive line for three years before signing last offseason with Seattle, strongly disputed Sapp's comments.

"I haven't watched any film on him this year, but I felt like my time in Detroit he was definitely maturing and getting better every year," Avril said. "I know his rookie year, he was just playing off all athleticism. And then I could tell mentally, how he was breaking down film and all these things, that he was getting better."

Avril took particular issue with the notion Suh doesn't want to get better.

"Why wouldn't he (want to get better)?" Avril said. "Suh genuinely wants to be one of the best to ever play the game. So I definitely know he wants to get better.

"I can't agree with (Sapp). Just being in the locker room with him for three years, I definitely think he wanted to get better and is trying to get better."