Surprisingly, former New England Patriots star Tom Brady isn’t being more protective of his fellow quarterbacks.
On Tuesday, the NFL suspended Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair for his late hit on Jacksonville Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence in Week 13. Lawrence suffered a concussion during the play.
When asked about the collision on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” Brady didn’t stand up for QBs and said the league should amend its rules to help defensive players.
“It’s gone to a point where everyone will label a certain player as a dirty player, I don’t like that one bit,” the seven-time Super Bowl champion said Tuesday.
“Maybe they fine or penalize a QB for sliding late. 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 a defensive player for every single play that happens when there’s a hit on a QB.”
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans echoed Brady’s sentiments in his Monday news conference.
“Of course, the unfortunate hit on the QB. But it’s two-fold,” Ryans said. “A lot of the QBs in this day and age try to take advantage of the rule where they slide late, and they try to get an extra yard.”
However, Brady and Ryans are missing the point. While the NFL has changed its rules to favor QBs in recent years, that’s not an excuse for cheap shots.
“That’s a dumb hit on [Al-Shaair’s] part,” Jaguars defensive end Josh Hines-Allen said in a postgame news conference, via WJAX-TV in Jacksonville. “We talk about these things. We know how to play football. A couple of years ago, that would’ve been a great hit, but now that wasn’t a good play on him.”
These hits can also cause brawls. After Al-Shaair knocked out Lawrence, a melee between the Jaguars and Texans ensued.
Ryans and Brady should reconsider their comments. Letting dirty plays slide would set a dangerous precedent, and suspending Al-Shaair was the right move.
