JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After Azeez Al-Shaair's illegal hit on Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence Sunday, all aspects of the NFL world are chiming in.
The hit, which came as Lawrence was attempting to slide, prompted a brawl between the teams and Al-Shaair and Jaguars' cornerback Jarrian Jones were ejected. Al-Shaair was suspended for three games.
On The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Tom Brady said Lawrence's injury is a result of the reality of the sport's physicality and said the dilemma is "challenging." Brady said the league has seen more QB-designed run plays.
"Why are the offensive coordinators not protecting their quarterbacks by keeping them in the pocket and not designing as many quarterback runs?" he said.
Brady then said quarterbacks could face a fine for fake sliding, without implying that's what Lawrence did.
"Maybe they fine or penalize a quarterback for sliding late, you know and say look, 'If we don't want these hits to take place, we've got to penalize the offense and the defense rather than just penalize the defensive player for every single play that happens when there's a hit on a quarterback.'"
Lawrence was shut down by the Jaguars Wednesday.
"Thank you to everyone who has reached out / been praying for me. I’m home and feeling better. Means a lot, thank you all🙌," Lawrence said in a post on his X page.
Texans General Manager Nick Caserio called Al-Shaair's suspension "Bull****."
Texans Head Coach Demeco Ryans said the following:
"It's unfortunate that Trevor got hurt. I hope Trevor is okay. But it's also, when you're sliding, you have to get down. Getting out of bounds or getting down, that rule is there to protect the quarterbacks. We want our quarterbacks to be safe in the league. So we just have to be safe and when we're sliding, make sure we're keeping our heads down. The entire thing, Azeez hits the guy, but their sideline overreacts and it turns into a melee. But it wasn't our guys. Their team overreacted, dragging our guy, pushed our guy to the sideline. So, that's uncalled for on that side."
