Tom Brady jumped to the defense of Azeez Al-Shaair after arguing that Trevor Lawrence put himself in harm’s way before being taken out by the Houston Texans linebacker.
Al-Shaair sparked fury Sunday after flying toward Lawrence elbow-first when the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback had already slid to the ground to abandon the play.
Lawrence lay motionless on the ground as all hell broke loose on the field, with both teams engaged in a bench-clearing fight as Jaguars players and staff lost their cool from the hit.
In the wake of his late tackle and the ensuing fight, Al-Shaair received a three-game suspension from the NFL, which criticized his “lack of sportsmanship and respect for the game of football” in a strongly worded statement. in issuing his ban on Tuesday.
However, according to Brady, the onus should not have been on the Texans defender to prioritize Lawrence’s safety after his late slide, instead stating that the quarterback was at risk of getting hurt when running the ball.
“The one aspect that I think is very challenging, and certainly for Trevor Lawrence, no one wants to see anyone hurt, but it’s also the reality of a very physical sport that we play,” the seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback said. The Pack with Colin Cowherd.
Tom Brady came to the defense of Azeez Al-Shaair for his tackle on Trevor Lawrence
‘Defensive players have to be aggressive. That is its nature. I tried to be aggressive on offense, we try to block aggressively and at the same time the defense tries to attack aggressively.
‘I don’t know, there’s an aspect of me that I think quarterbacks need to take better care of themselves. I see Josh Allen run it a lot, I see Lamar Jackson run it a lot, and it’s a great skill set. Many times I wish I had those skills.
‘At the same time, when you run you put yourself in great danger. And when you do that, I don’t think the responsibility of protecting an offensive quarterback who is running should fall on a defensive player. “I don’t think that’s really fair to the defense.”
Brady also pointed out the timing of Lawrence’s slide before Al-Shaair came in with the tackle, suggesting that quarterbacks should also be penalized for producing them too late in an effort to protect them in the future.
“There are more careers designed for quarterbacks than in the history of the NFL,” he added. ‘So are we really trying to protect quarterbacks? Because if you’re trying to play by the rules, then why don’t offensive coordinators protect their quarterbacks by keeping them out of the pocket and engineer as many quarterback runs?
“I think we’ve reached a point where everyone labels a certain player as a dirty player, I don’t like that at all.”
“Maybe (they should) fine or penalize a quarterback for sliding late and say, ‘If we don’t want these hits to happen, we have to penalize the offense and the defense instead of just penalizing one defensive player for each hit. “only play that occurs when there is a hit on a quarterback.”‘
Brady argued that Lawrence put himself in danger before being annihilated by Al-Shaair.
Al-Shaair received a three-game suspension from the NFL after his late tackle on the Jaguars star.
Lawrence was carted off the field after suffering a concussion, but is now ‘feeling much better’
Earlier Tuesday, Texans general manager Nick Caserio called the NFL “hypocritical” and “shameful” in an angry rant over Al-Shaair’s three-game suspension.
Caserio first argued that the league’s assessment of its players’ conduct “couldn’t be further from the truth” and that “nobody has much respect for that.”
“The picture that’s been painted about Azeez, his intentions, who he is as a person… I mean, frankly, it’s nonsense,” he fumed. ‘And it’s unfair to the individual, it’s unfair to the organization.
‘No one embodies our program better than Azeez; What it is about, what it has been through… you all know its story. There is not a more selfless person who cares more about the team and has earned the respect that represents everything we want this program to be.
“For the league to make some of the comments they did about lack of sportsmanship, lack of coaching ability, lack of attention to the rules… frankly, it’s embarrassing. They’re talking about a player who has never been suspended or expelled”.
Texans GM Nick Caserio called NFL ‘hypocritical’ for suspending Al-Shaair
He maintained that his assessment of the player’s conduct “could not be further from the truth.”
Caserio also accused the NFL of hypocrisy for its stance on player welfare.
“If the league says it cares about the well-being of its players, and I would say at a time like this, Azeez is probably going through a lot, we can’t even provide support on many levels,” he continued.
“So it’s a little hypocritical to say, ‘We want to support the players, but you know what? The organization cannot have contact with him for four weeks.”
‘Okay, so what do you want me to do, just go and float alone?’