d.: We’ll get back to the story line tomorrow. Today, I want to address something that has been in
the news for the last three days: what happened in the game between the Texans and the Jaguars.
Trevor Lawrence went into a slide as late as he possibly could during Sunday’s game, but Azeez Al-Shaair still hit him in the head with a forearm. I don’t believe that the linebacker was not only trying not to hit the quarterback, but he was also trying to avoid doing what he did. However, Trevor Lawrence is six-six, so he sits taller than the average quarterback when going into a slide.
There are always two sides to every issue, and I’m admittedly a bit of a homer. However, I do believe that the Texans’ coach, DeMeco Ryans, implements, in the defense’s practice, ways to avoid doing this. Ryans was a standout linebacker for the Texans and was never accused of being a dirty player. Neither has Al-Shaair, until now.
From the NFL commissioner’s office, John Runyon issued a decree in which he took issue with Al-Shaair’s character, something he knows nothing about. Additionally, as a former offensive lineman, I suspect he has prejudices against defensive players.
The game has changed a lot in the last twenty years. The days of the Manning brothers or Tom Brady being superstars is over. Pocket passers are passe. Lawrence is a good, but not excellent quarterback. He’s also known to scramble on occasion, which carries its own risks.
Tom Brady has already weighed in defending Al-Shaair, as have his former and present teammates. I do think that Al-Shier should have been penalized and ejected from the game. The rules are very clear about hitting someone in the head, which has been illegal since hard plastic helmets were invented. This rule was just poorly enforced or not enforced at all until the last few years. A one or two game suspension would be understandable, but three games in the heart of the Texans’ “Murderers’ Row” part of their schedule is punishing the whole team. Al-Shaair is an important part of the Texans’ defense. He wears the green dot on his helmet, indicating he’s the signal caller for the Texans’ defensive unit.
I don’t agree that the man who came off the sidelines to defend Lawrence should have been ejected. As I know from personal experience, Lawrence was incapacitated and unable to defend himself. I’ve suffered at least two concussions in my life. When Lawrence came to, he was probably more concerned with orienting himself to person, place, time and situation than defending himself. Football is an emotional game, and the Jaguars’ player was caught up in the moment, as was Al-Shaair. To say that he “engaged” with other players as he left the field is a bit unfair, because most of the players in Jaguars’ uniforms were engaging him, not the other way around. That, however, was the opinion of John Runyon, the Vice President of the NFL.
Runyon, during his playing days, had a reputation as a dirty player, but that’s a natural thing to say about offensive linemen, and it is probably true. When someone as big as you are (or bigger) who is quicker, stronger and faster than you are is trying to harm your quarterback, an offensive lineman will do whatever he needs to do to defend his quarterback.
The two people I’d most like to weigh in on this are Terry Bradshaw and Jack Lambert. The latter was the middle linebacker on the four Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers of the mid to late 1970s and early 1980s. His opinion, in this era that featured hard-charging running backs and safeties that hunted heads, was that the quarterbacks should wear dresses because they were so protected. Find a few Steelers-Oakland Raiders games on You Tube and see if you agree. The quarterbacks were not protected like they are today, and if they took off running, they were fair game. Therefore, most were straight drop back passers who stayed in the pocket.
Terry Bradshaw was one of those quarterbacks. He was known for being tough, and huge for a quarterback. At 6=3 and 215, he would be a small quarterback in this century. Bradshaw had a reputation of staying in the pocket and releasing the ball at the very last second to allow his receivers a chance to get open. This usually worked in Bradshaw’s favor, but he had multiple concussions because of his style of play. He purposefully exposed himself to harm to help his team, and he won four Super Bowls. Never once do I remember him whining about being hit too hard, or late, or even in the head, which he had been several times in his career.
Even in the 1970s, Bradshaw was considered a throwback to the tough quarterbacks of old, the ones who played with leather helmets, or later, a plastic one with a single bar to protect their faces. Now, it’s illegal to hit a quarterback even when he’s running down the sidelines.
Here is what Runyon’s letter, in my opinion, should have said: “We have reviewed the tape of the game and concluded that Azeez Al-Shaair has violated the rules of the game by hitting another player in the head with his forearm. For this transgression, he has been fined and suspended for three games.”
Period, end of letter, and end of blog post.
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