Legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady seemed to defend Texans’ linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair for his hit on Trevor Lawrence in Sunday’s game against the Jaguars.
Al-Shaair was handed a three-game ban for the hit by the NFL on Tuesday, but Brady seemed to suggest that quarterbacks needed to be more responsible for their actions during an appearance on “The Herd with Collin Cowherd on Tuesday.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion quantified his comments by saying that “nobody wants to see anybody get hurt, but it is also the reality of a very physical sport that we play.”
“Defensive players have to be aggressive. That’s their nature. I was trying to be aggressive on offense, we tried to block aggressively, and at the same time the defense tries to tackle aggressively,” Brady said. “I don’t know, there’s an aspect to me that I think the 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 skillset to have. A lot of times I wish I had that skillset.
“At the same time, when you run you put yourself in a lot of danger. And when you do that I don’t think the onus of protecting an offensive quarterback who’s running should be on a defensive player. I don’t think that’s really fair to the defense.”
The response got a bit odder when Brady seemed to question just how interested teams are in protecting their quarterbacks.
Brady mentioned how many plays are designed to be runs by a QB.
“Are we really trying to protect quarterbacks? Because if you are trying to through the rules, then why are the offensive coordinators not protecting their quarterbacks by keeping them out of the pocket and not designing as many quarterback runs?” he said. “I think it’s gone to a point where everyone will label a certain player as a dirty player, I don’t like that one bit. Maybe they [should] fine or penalize a quarterback for sliding late and say, ‘if we don’t want these hits to take place, we’ve got to penalize the offense and the defense rather than just penalize a defensive player for every single play that happens when there’s a hit on a quarterback.’”
Al-Shaair had hit Lawrence in the head area as he slid during a run in the first half of the game on Sunday.
Lawrence was down on the ground for several minutes and left the game with a concussion.
NFL vice president of policy and rules administration Jon Runyan criticized Al-Saair’s “lack of sportsmanship and respect for the game of football and all those who play, coach, and enjoy watching it” in a statement announcing the suspension.
Texans GM Nick Caserio did not take kindly to the league’s position and blasted the comment as “bulls–t.”