Former NFL quarterback and Fox analyst Tom Brady stated he had “blended feelings” in regards to the uproar surrounding a late hit on Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence on Sunday, and argued quarterbacks have to “take higher care of themselves” when leaving the pocket to run.
Showing on Fox’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” on Tuesday, Brady argued that the onus of defending a operating quarterback doesn’t simply fall on the protection. Brady’s feedback got here after the NFL suspended Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair for 3 video games for the hit that concussed Lawrence. Al-Shaair is interesting the suspension.
“It’s gone to a degree the place everybody will label a sure participant as a unclean participant; I don’t like that one bit,” Brady stated. “Possibly they high quality or penalize a quarterback for sliding late and say, ‘Look, if we don’t need these hits to happen, we’ve received to penalize the offense and the protection relatively than simply penalize a defensive participant for each single play that occurs when there’s a hit on a quarterback.’”
Brady, a seven-time Tremendous Bowl champion, detailed a narrative throughout his enjoying profession the place he slid late and took a crushing hit. His teammates informed him to get down as a result of “these gamers are coming to get you.”
“Defensive gamers need to be aggressive, that’s their nature,” he stated. “I all the time tried to be aggressive on offense, we tried to dam aggressively and on the identical time the protection tried to sort out aggressively.”
Brady added, “I see (Buffalo Payments quarterback) Josh Allen operating loads, I see (Baltimore Ravens quarterback) Lamar Jackson operating loads and it’s an ideal ability to have. I want I had that ability set. And on the identical time, once you run, you set your self in a variety of hazard, and once you try this, I don’t assume the onus of defending an offensive quarterback who’s operating must be on a defensive participant. I don’t actually assume that’s honest to the protection.”
.@TomBrady discusses late hit on Trevor Lawrence:
“If we do not need these hits to happen, we have to penalize each the offense and the protection.” pic.twitter.com/fnmCJ7oZwj
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) December 3, 2024
Al-Shaair apologized for the hit on Lawrence on Monday.
“I genuinely didn’t see him sliding till it was too late,” Al-Shaair stated in a publish on X. “And all of it occurs within the blink of a watch. To Trevor, I genuinely apologize to you for what ended up taking place. Earlier than the sport we spoke and I informed you the way it was nice to see you again on the sector and wished you nicely. I’d by no means wish to see any participant harm due to successful I placed on them particularly one which’s deemed ‘late’ or ‘pointless.’”
Texans basic supervisor Nick Caserio addressed his frustration in a Tuesday information convention amid the backlash Al-Shaair has obtained since Sunday, defending the linebacker.
“I feel the place we take umbrage is the image that’s been painted about Azeez, his intentions, who he’s as an individual — fairly frankly it’s b—–-,” Caserio stated. “It’s unfair to the person, it’s unfair to the group. We love the whole lot about Azeez Al-Shaair, what he means to this workforce, what he brings to this workforce. He was elected a captain after being right here for 4 months.
Brady stated it is usually as much as offensive coordinators and play callers to assist shield quarterbacks by not calling so many designed runs.
“The facet for a play caller, there’s extra design runs for quarterbacks ever now than within the historical past of the NFL. So are we actually making an attempt to guard quarterbacks? As a result of if you’re making an attempt to do it by the foundations then why are the offensive coordinators not defending by conserving them within the pocket and never designing as many quarterback runs?”
The Texans are off till Dec. 15, when they are going to host the Miami Dolphins.
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(Photograph: Michael Reaves / Getty Photographs)