Azeez Al-Shaair’s Dirty Hit
In the second quarter of Sunday’s matchup between the Jaguars and Texans, Trevor Lawrence took off on a scramble drill. He got what yardage he could, and slid. Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair hit him as he was sliding. He hit him really hard. Trevor was instantly and obviously concussed (his arms did the fencing response we are all now too familiar with). The Jaguars Evan Engram retaliated, a whole fight happened, and Al-Shaair was ejected. As of Tuesday morning, he has been suspended for 3 games.
It was an unnecessary use of force and outside Texans homer circles I think everyone more or less acknowledges that. The discourse has still permeated though, because that’s what discourse does. And coming at the discourse several days too late is what I do. So lets rumble, baby.
I think the hit was dirty and unnecessary but maybe a touch overblown. This was not the dirtiest hit I’ve ever seen, but it was dumb and illegal. I think Al-Shaair got his large suspension not so much from the hit itself but because he is establishing the beginnings of a Vontaze Burfict style resume. This is a guy who jacked up Caleb Williams on the sideline earlier this year and then punched another Bears player after the Bears rightfully took issue with the hit (the hit was legal, to be fair, but the degree of force the hit contained is certainly unnecessary). I think Al-Shaair is one of those guys who does not know how to pull up or ease off. He wants to hit everyone really hard. Not a bad instinct for a linebacker, but one that must be measured appropriately and properly controlled. The fact that he’s had a few rough hits in the past indicate a problem, and that means he needs better coaching. It’s not a good sign that right after the incident you had a lot of people going “wait, isn’t this the same guy who (insert one of his past moments of unnecessary roughness)”. Al-Shaair also kept tensions up after the hit and retaliation, and that probably contributed to his harsh punishment.
Unfortunately, DeMeco Ryans kinda put his foot in his mouth on the incident. Ryans said he supports Al-Shaair completely and that the Jaguars overreacted in response. That was expected and probably the right move as a coach but also unnecessary toward the Jaguars. Ryans is a former NFL defender, he’s obviously going to be on the defense side of this argument and stand up for his guy (and I don’t think he is without a few decent points when he discusses how some QBs take advantage of the rule coddling), but blaming the Jaguars for overreacting is kind of insulting. Al-Shaair just visibly and unnecessarily took Lawrence out of the game, very violently. If the Jaguars DON’T react there it frankly looks even worse. Remember a couple seasons ago when Kayvon Thibodeaux injured Nick Foles on a sack and did snow angels? Remember how no Colt came to Foles’ defense? The Colts got destroyed for that, rightfully so. It was a major indicator of the joke that was the Jeff Saturday era. Dirty hits get retaliated. It’s unfortunate because it always results in offsetting penalties instead of the correct and justified outcome, but it’s part of the sport’s honor. I would imagine DeMeco and angry Texans fans would feel differently if Stroud got rocked by a dirty hit instead.
A lot of us probably got reminded of a very similar hit by Kiko Alonso against Joe Flacco. You simply can’t do that. I do understand Ryans’ point that a QB scrambling puts defenders in an awkward position. You can’t hit a QB, but you still have to make a tackle. A scrambling QB is going to try to get as many yards as he can most of the time. There are some QBs who understand the privilege they have and use it. Mahomes has baited countless ticky-tack hits out of bounds because he knows he can, and if a defender pulls up too early in fear of hitting him, Mahomes will scamper a few extra yards. Aaron Rodgers, back when he was younger and more mobile, was the king of this bullshit. It’s smart on the QB’s part. Take advantage of the situation that is in your favor. Kenny Pickett did a fake slide in college and it was the sickest juke ever, yet it also clearly constituted such a major disadvantage for defenders forced to play it that it was banned immediately.
No QB fake slides in the NFL. That’s the big thing to note here. There has been chatter of faking slides and such by defenders but this just doesn’t really happen. The sideline bullshit does, but fake slides do not. This isn’t a reasonable problem for defenders to be concerned about. Al-Shaair has no good excuse here. If a QB is scrambling, you have to treat the situation as an expected slide and position your body to react accordingly. That means staying on your feet, setting yourself, and making sure you have proper tackle form. This allows you to properly play whatever happens, be it a slide you have to pull up on or a tackle if the QB gets frisky. Earlier this year Tua tried to get frisky and ran into Damar Hamlin and concussed himself. Nobody blamed Hamlin for that (nobody intelligent anyway) and Hamlin did exactly as he is supposed to. That concussion was Tua’s fault.
Al-Shaair launched himself like a human missile, leading with his forearm as a battering ram. He might have an argument he was going for the tackle if he had, you know, had his arms out and open like he wanted to make a tackle, even in the middle of a dive. He wanted to ram Trevor, low. He was either deliberately going for the head and body on the slide or he was aiming for the knees and Trevor sliding made it worse. Neither is good. His intent in the move is clear. You can argue all you want about how defenders have to play, and how they have to react, and sometimes the speed of the game makes it hard for defenders to defy physics, and all that is true. The major problem that this argument fails to address is that a scrambling QB is a very specific situation that requires the defender to anticipate the slide. Maybe the slide is too fast to precisely react to in real time, but it’s never a problem when the defender isn’t a dumbass and has several seconds of anticipation to set himself up for all potential moves to begin with. Look back at that Tua concussion and see how Hamlin was properly set up if Tua had slid instead. Hamlin could have just tagged him down, maybe jumped to get out of the way like a lot of defenders end up doing in that scenario. Hamlin didn’t play it like a douchebag trying to hurt Tua.
Al-Shaair couldn’t properly react to the slide because he set himself up to be a human missile instead of playing it to properly react to a potential slide. He’s got the league’s eye on him now, so he better shape up or face a lot of extra scrutiny. He wont get the benefit of the doubt on hard hits after this.
EDIT: Something I forgot to touch on but do want to point out: the suspension statement from Jon Runyan was surprisingly harsh and coming from a guy a lot of players thought was dirty, that’s also a bad look. I do think Al-Shaair is being made a slight example of and a single-game suspension would have sufficed. I also don’t think Al-Shaair is actually Vontaze Burfict level of malicious, but I do think he’s kinda dumb and needs to better understand the situation on knowing when to hit full force.
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Worth noting, I think, that one of the people on the Texans who came out in defense of Al-Shaair’s performance was Texans VP of Football Operations, Jon Runyan.
Yes, THAT Jon Runyan. The one who in 2006 was picked by players in a Sports Illustrated poll as the NFL’s second dirtiest player. And whose response was “they’re just soft whiners, the sport is meant to be played this way, not turned into basketball.”
This was 2006, the NFL was still doing Jacked Up, and that was too soft for Jon Runyan, who is now setting the tone organizationally for the Texans’ players and staff to follow. I’m suddenly seeing possible reasons for why they’ve been having such bad penalty problems this year.
Retroactive: I misunderstood this in the late night, Runyan is actually the NFL’s entire VP of Policy and Rules Admin. No connection to the Texans.
…Though then why is THAT type of player in charge of handing out fines and shit?
Runyon didn’t defend it, unless I missed that somewhere. He issued the letter of suspension to Al-Shaair, which basically said “We are suspending you because you are a disgrace to the game”. After detailing the entire breakdown of his actions (not just the hit itself, but the fight afterward, the taunting, and so on), this was on the end:
“Your lack of sportsmanship and respect for the game of football and all those who play, coach, and enjoy watching it, is troubling and does not reflect the core values of the NFL…Your continued disregard for NFL playing rules puts the health and safety of both you and your opponents in jeopardy and will not be tolerated.”
Didn’t Josh Allen fake slide against the Steelers in the Wild Card game last year?
I wouldn’t really call this a fake slide. It was a fakeout juke, but I don’t think he was pretending to enter a slide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA7l3NaiaIA&ab_channel=JMFootball
IIRC that was our CB5 or something and we couldn’t hide him every play.
Been a long time reader and fan of yours but I gotta speak up on this. Not even a week after your promise of no rightwing bullshit being tolerated you go on and do this. A whole piece mocking Al-Shaair one of the only Black Muslims in the league because he hit a presious white qb. I know you talk a good talk about social politics and doing the right thing but this shows you still got some racial and religion bias going on under the surface. If the names were switched I wonder if there would be this outrage for him to get suspended. Microagressions are serious stuff Dave and I hope you figure yours out so I can go back to enjoying your work. People like this that talk about doing the right thing and still show bias to white people is how Trump supporters thrive. You ain’t one of them are you? Or are you really that different behind closed doors than your public persona?
Look man, the comic is about what I and a lot of people feel is a dirty hit. I cannot change the facts of who was involved in the play. If the races were reversed, or if Al-Shaair had hit a black QB instead, I believe I’d feel the same way about the hit being dirty and deserving of punishment.
I’ve got my blind spots, we all do, and I try my best to identify them when pointed out, but this comic is about two players involved in a football play, and that play has generated a lot of discussion about the play itself, and absolutely none of my commentary had anything to do with race or religion, that’s you bringing it into the conversation. I wanted to comment on a major discussion point for the past weekend. I dont know much about Al-Shaair, but I think he made a dirty play, and I hope he doesn’t do it again.
If you’ve been a long time reader and a fan I would hope you’d at least give me a little benefit of the doubt before accusing me of secretly being a trump supporter and assuming some dark intentions you’ve projected onto me. I get the sense from your comment you either think Al-Shaair’s hit wasnt dirty and therefore all the outrage and anger must be caused by something else like bigotry, or you think Al-Shaair’s hit was dirty, but the outrage is still too strong and is caused by the same bigotry. If it’s the former, why do you think the hit was fair? If it’s the latter, that’s a discussion worth having, but not really the subject of the comic, which is more about the hit itself and the problems with it. I do think the league’s statement and punishment was a bit higher than I expected and he’s being made a slight example of. But the hit was dirty, imo, and I outlined the reasons why I think so.
Why change it from “Only Allah can judge me” to “Only God can judge me” to make him sound Christian?
Look, I love to piss in Dave’s cheerios. Honestly. It’s one of my favorite things to do around here. But this… is not one of those times. Being one of the only black Muslims in the league is not a green card for Al-Shaair to turn the NFL into the MMA. Evenly criticizing a player for an objective foul is not a microaggression, because if it was JJ Watt throwing forearms, I’m very confident this comic would be the same and Dave’s take would be the same.
The goal of society is to move towards EQUALITY, where everyone can be freely criticized objectively for what they do, regardless of race, creed, gender, etc. What you are suggesting is not that. You are suggesting that Al-Shaair should be given special treatment BECAUSE he’s a black muslim. That’s not equality, that’s just swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction, which ain’t cool.
I appreciate your defense Blueberries but in regards to your second paragraph, I don’t think he’s suggesting that Al-Shaair get special treatment due to race/religion, I think he’s angry because he perceives a lot of the criticism to be due to deep-seated bigotry about his race/religion rather than criticism about the hit. That’s slightly different and a discussion that might be worth having but as I said in my response, it wasn’t really the subject of my post in the first place. My comic is about the hit, which I confidently feel is dirty and would be dirty no matter the players involved.
I’m not sure you’re in conversation with a real person. Smells like a bot to me. Your comment section is an unwalled garden, and eventually beetles are gonna start laying eggs there. There are disturnances in The Force that indicate to me Someone is performing a broad cyberattack in the chaotic period leading up the Installation of The New Administration.
I have no large reason to believe the comment is from a bot, The mention of my talking about no right wing bullshit last week is a bit too specific. But it is probably a bad faith troll or someone looking to be mad. Even if it is a bad faith troll, I always at least try to answer in good faith to start just in case there’s been any sort of miscommunication.
My comments section is more moderated than it may look. I have multiple apps that block spam/bot accounts set up and I have it so that I have to manually approve any comment from a new source that hasn’t been approved before. I saw the comment before it went live on the page. I approved it because even though I think it’s a bad faith troll attempt it seemed like a person to me. It could be a bot but unless they answer back and give me a better idea I’m gonna operate in good faith.
Not a bit. Like Dave said he responded in good faith and I really appreciate his perspective a lot. I was worried about his post but he did a good job explaning himself. I hope he makes sure his remarks come from a good place still
Maybe I’m bringing my own external baggage into this based on people I know, but when I see phrasing like: “a whole piece mocking Al-Shaair one of the only Black Muslims in the league because he hit a presious[SIC] white qb” what I’m hearing is, you shouldn’t be criticizing Al-Shaair for this – warranted or not – because he’s a black Muslim, and thus in need of protecting from microaggressions.
I agree about your interpretation being a discussion worth having, but Anonymous came in guns blazing when they use words like “mocking” and “presious[SIC] white qb.” If they said, “Dave, I don’t think it’s fair that you criticize him like that when I’ve seen other white players do the exact same thing and not a peep from you,” then ok, yea, we’re getting somewhere.
What a horrendous and twisted take. I’d also stay anonymous after concocting such a miserable statement.
A dirty hit deserves criticism. End of discussion.
This is sarcasm, right?
Can we give Houston a break? When have they ever protected or defended a player when it wasn’t deserved? These are just good ol’ boys in Texas looking out for one another when the big bad media decides to cancel them.
Al-Shaair was way too aggressive on that play and was rightfully suspended. It’s a repeated offense (His punch against the Bears, Hitting Tony Pollard WAY too late Etc.) and got the right punishment (I was hoping for 2 games, but I get it).
With that being said, it was an accident and NOT a purposefully late hit. Lawrence made the decision to slide just before Al-Shaair made the decision to “Hit Stick” him. He had under a second to adjust. I also think his late adjustment was because he didn’t want to hit Lawrence in the head and tried to hit his chest instead, but the play was just too fast.
Coaching is part of it, Demeco Ryans defense plays with a “Swarm” mentality, and are taught to be aggressive; but no other player on the Texans have been fined for illegal hits. Hell, we’ve had perfectly legal hit sticks be penalized just because it was a big hit.
Also take Demeco Ryan’s assessment with a grain of salt. He was clearly displeased after the hit, but he’s never going to publically throw his players under the bus, that just who he is.
AL-Shaair is no where as dirty as Burfict or any other dirty historical player, he doesn’t want to purposefully injure anyone. Burfict purposefully twisted Cam Newtons’s ankle once. This is his first suspension, hopefully he learns from it.
Oh, so he wasn’t trying to injure Roschon Johnson when he punched him in the fucking face?
This is some weapons-grade copium, and I don’t understand why Texans fans can’t just admit it was a dirty hit and move on with their lives. Like I’m a Broncos fan, we had Aqib Talib and Bill Romanowski playing for us, and I never heard anyone else try to defend those fuckers’ most despicable moments.
Then again, I wonder if this is just a Houston sports thing and you guys just take the victim mentality every time like when your baseball team gets caught cheating or pretending that James Harden is a good basketball player and not just a walking foul machine.
I’m not hearing a whole lot of defiant defense of Al-Shaair’s hit from the Houston media or the fans I know, granted I don’t have a comprehensive experience. Tom Brady has, I think, been the hit’s most surprising public defender.
The statements by Ryans and the Texans’ front office would likely be given regardless of the team. Coaches and GMs have no reason to risk losing the locker room so they can look better to the fans or the media, because most of the time the fans and the media come back around if/when the team wins. Not how I would prefer it to be, but changing the situation goes beyond the Texans franchise.
Yeah Ryans and Caserio standing by their guy is not a surprise and most of their points are valid regarding the issues of defense and inconsistency of punishments. I specifically had issue with Ryans blaming Jacksonville
He was blaming Jacksonville because their reaction made it look like it was an intentionally dirty hit, making it seem like Al-Shaair was a scumbag who purposefully attempted to concuss and hit Trevor Lawrence. It’s made worse when they shove him to the ground when he’s defenseless on the turf and hasn’t yet fully realized the consequences. So he fights back, making him look like a bigger villain while it snowballs into a bench-clearing brawl, with objects being thrown at him from the crowd making him look like an even BIGGER villain.
He’s blaming Jacksonville because he feels their reaction painted a false picture of what happened and is part of the reason the whole thing received the type of attention it did.
I do think its a valid point, but I’m not going to blame Jacksonville for it. If Al-Shaair was smarter it would not have happened at all. Ryan’s is just defending his player, and what he says about Jacksonville should be taken with a grain of salt.
That punch was extremely bizarre and I´m not going to defend it, but outside of that ONE moment, none of his other hits were intended to seriously injure someone.
Copium? Victim Mentality? I´m not defending his action, he didn’t need to hit stick the QB there, and was rightly ejected and suspended. He is extremely aggressive, but it wasn’t intentional like what so many people like you believe.
Comparing Al-Shaair to guys like Aqib Talib and Bill Romanowski is what annoys me and proves your overreaction to the hit, and is honestly straight up slander. Aqib Talib poked a players eye out and purposefully twisted the facemask of an opponent, Romanowski was sued for crushing his own teammates eye socket, purposefully twisted and broke the finger of a player, and purposely broke Kerry Collins Jaw on a helmet to helmet hit. Al-Shaair punched a guy once? Had late hits that got him fined and rightly suspended? He also has been a mentor and good leader of the team overall. Demeco would not have made him a captain otherwise.
Also, I hated when we were caught cheating and still don´t recognize the 2017 championship. Like it or not, James Harden is future Hall of Famer, no matter what you think.
“I mean yeah other than all those blatantly late hits and that time he punched a guy and that other time that he tried to choke Tom Brady and that he was still trying to restart the fight with Evan Engram while being dragged off the field by his teammates after trying to decapitate Trevor Lawrence, he’s been a perfectly model player and citizen! You can’t know what’s going on in his head when he lowered his arm almost perfectly to nail Trevor in the head, I say it wasn’t intentional because I know what’s going on in his head.”
And just because Ryans made him a captain doesn’t mean that Al-Shaair isn’t a scumfuck in the making, maybe Demeco Ryans is just a meathead bully too. The Packers DC defended Charles Martin body slamming Jim McMahon 5 seconds after a play was blown dead back in the ’80s. Gregg Williams started Bountygate. Coaches can be shitbags too.
All those blatant late hits? He’s had the whopping number of 3 late hits this year. The other 2 being legal hits if he didn’t do it at the wrong time. Did you know that leading with your shoulder is how you’re supposed to make a big hit?
That time he punched a guy? He was being stomped on and felt disrespected. It’s not an excuse, but he didn’t do it because he’s a psychopath. But hey, crushing an eye socket is at the same level according to you, so maybe he is!
Choking Brady? Unless he can use the force, there’s no way he did that. Brady complained because that’s what QBs do to try and get the Refs attention to get a call their way the next time something questionable happens. Hell the commentators themselves agreed he wasn’t choking him and joked about it. Speaking of Brady, you would think he would remember that or at least mention it! He defended the guy who choked him? He probably has dementia!
Restart his fight with Engram? Andre Johnson tried to restart his fight with Finnegan, he must also be a dirty player! Did you know emotions run high during competitive sports events?
Trying to Decapitate Lawrence? Do you mean a player who has never hit a player directly in the head before in the last 6 years suddenly wanted to behead Trevor Lawrence? He’s probably jealous of the glorious hair he has.
Perfect Model Player and Citizen?
Let’s see:
No Criminal Offenses? Check
No history of fights with teammates? Check
Hard Worker and Excellent Leader? Check
Punched his girlfriend? Oh wait no that was Larry Fitzgerald, my bad.
Unless I’m missing something seems to me he’s a good guy. Wait, your telling me he supports Palestine? That he hit a player on accident in football? Send him down the fiery pits of hell, with Aaron Hernandez, OJ Simpson, and Darren Sharper!!!
“You can’t know what’s going on in his head” “I say it wasn’t intentional because I know what’s going on his head”
I don’t, but I’ve been watching football for 24 years now, if my first gut instinct was that it was a mistake and not intentional, it probably was a mistake. I also apply logic and not just spew something because of the media. I watched Al-Shaair on almost every down he’s played this year, and yet he has never made an illegal tackle like leading with the forearms. I also know that Linebackers don’t lead with their forearms anymore, because of injury risks as well as it not being effective. I also noticed that he trying to prevent the first down, and he thought he had a shot at a QB running full speed to him. I also watched the play in real-time and realized the play happened too fast to even be intentional unless Al-Shaair thought in under a second and decided to headhunt him. So by using experience, logic and what I know, I can infer what’s happening.
DeMeco Ryans is a shitbag, He probably is just one of those old school players who thinks the current game is weak! Wait Ryans was never fined and suspended in the NFL? Everyone who has worked with him has nothing negative to say about him? Nah he’s a shitbag because of some dipshit DC 40 years ago.
There are so many things wrong with your comment. Please stop talking about something you clearly don’t understand before you start dissing someone or a team. The NFL is vilifying him because Lawrence had an unfortunate concussion, and they need to show they care about player safety, even though they know it wasn’t intentional, and the media is exaggerating it to generate clicks and views. Yes Al-Shaair was reckless and should have figured he was going to slide. Yes Lawrence paid the price for it. Yes he was rightly suspended for it. No, it was not intentional and anybody criticizing his character and the coaches is wrong and don’t understand the situation.
Assuming you’re correct, then Al-Shaair’s intention was to dive – forearm first – directly into Lawrence’s gut?
Because that’s EXACTLY what would have happened if Trevor had kept running. That is still an asshat move. Like Dave said, you need to open your arms, wrap, and tackle. Under no circumstances, sliding or not, can you lunge at someone with your forearm. He’s lucky he didn’t snap it in half on Trevor’s helmet.
Notice that it was the forearm with a big brace on it, so there was much less of a chance that he, himself, would suffer any injury. Unless that was simply an “accident” as well.
A common misconception is that he was leading with the forearm. It appears that way because Lawrence slid directly into the forearms. I’ve seen that form of hitting many times. Al-Shaair stopped briefly and adjusted himself to read where Lawrence was going. Anticipating he was going to run for the first down, he launched himself trying to prevent the first down and was leaning with the shoulder to hit Lawrence square in the chest, not the gut. With how fast the players were moving, I have little doubt that it would been a legal hit, with Lawrence getting the wind knocked out of him. But Lawrence slid JUST before he was going to launched himself. In a moment of panic and instinct, he tried to aim his forearms to hit Lawrence´s chest instead of the head as Lawrence was sliding, but Lawrence was too low and he got his neck instead.
I also don´t think he was leading with the forearms because that´s not what is being taught. Leading with your forearms is the perfect way to sprain or fracture your arms, and it´s less effective than using your shoulder. On top of that Al-Shaair doesn’t tackle that way, even his late hits have all been with the driving point of the shoulder, and it wasn’t the tackle, but the timing of the hits that he made. The main problem was that he was being reckless and should have anticipated Lawrence´s slide, and he paid the consequence for it after one too many warnings. I don’t think he’s a dirtbag, but he’s more aggressive than he needs to be. Hopefully, he will learn after this first suspension.
Dude was literally leading with his forearm on the Tony Pollard hit, the one with the brace on it. He’s been using that elbow brace the way Bob Orton Jr. used his cast. Yeah, I don’t know why he’d be leading with his forearm, you know, the one wrapped up in 10 pounds of aluminum and steel.
I want to give you the benefit of the doubt here, I know you’re feeling attacked, but “a common misconception”?! SERIOUSLY? Freeze frame the video, his forearm is LITERALLY over a foot in front of the rest of his body. No, wait, I’ll do it for you.
https://imgur.com/a/k2RGqXD
Unless dude thought Trevor Lawrence could body slide by one and collide into him sideways, he was 100% leading with the forearm, he even braced the arm with his other hand. Whether he INTENDED to lead with the forearm, or maybe it just has a mind of its own, ok, fine, we can debate that. But no, he was absolutely leading with the forearm.
Some of your other qualitative statements confuse me, too. He can’t lead with his forearm because “that’s not what is being taught”? Well, that’s not true. If it was, we would never have penalties. And “he doesn’t tackle that way” isn’t really a defense. I don’t shoot people in the face, but if you find compelling evidence that I shot someone in the face… I’m probably going to jail for shooting someone in the face, even if it’s not on my daily to-do list.
Look, I’m not saying he’s a dirtbag, or that he needs to be launched out of football. Guys on my team have made bad tackles in the past, every team does it at some point. Just smile, acknowledge it, and move on. You’re going to die on this hill by taking a forearm to the face, lol.
In closing, the indisputable facts are these:
1) It was a dirty hit.
2) He hit him by leading with his forearm.
“Assuming you’re correct, then Al-Shaair’s intention was to dive – forearm first – directly into Lawrence’s gut? Because that’s EXACTLY what would have happened if Trevor had kept running.”
This is done by defenders league wide all the time. If you’ve watch football for any length of time, you’ve yelled at your TV when your guy does it and the runner shucks him and keeps running.
The only reason this hit is illegal is the runner is a QB, the QB slides, and he makes contact. I have seen other players on many teams do the same, but not make contact. They are not penalized, but maybe they should be. Also, think the OB approaching the 1st down marker affected both the QB’s and the LB’s decisions, The QB slides late to get an close to the marker as possible, and the LB lunges to stop a first down. I think this happen anywhere else on the field the QB slides a little earlier and the LB doesn’t lunge to stop him.
In short, the hit was by rules, definately illegal. As for dirty, I tend to fall in the too-aggressive camp, not dirty.
From the slow-motions cameras it looks like he put his forearms up first, then started leaning with his left shoulder. The way he fell made me think he had more momentum in his left shoulder than he did in his forearms. The speed of the play also made me think it was instinctive and not intentional. He decided in under a second to headhunt Lawrence, something he has never done before?
A good example of a leading with your forearms is Mike Harden´s hit on Steve Largent. That´s the type of hit of what most are thinking when they see the hit at first.
As for the brace, plenty of players have braces. JJ Watt had a brace! But sometimes braces enables stupid behavior, especially from players like Al-Shaair, who thinks they are protected.
Check out 2:02 to 2:28 on Ding Productions video of the hit and let me know if you thinks he’s still leading with the forearms. If your still 100% convinced, then I´ll take back all of my statement about leading with the forearms.
You make a good point about my other Qualitative Statements, I take back what I say there.
You can check my previous statements, I never said it wasn´t a bad tackle. I agree with the fine and suspension (A bit harsh penalty but fine).
Im arguing that:
A) The Tackle was an accident, NOT on purpose
B) Al-Shaair may be an idiot, but he´s not a scumbag
C) And the situation is getting overblown by the NFL and the Media
I´m dying on this hill.
Coogvet – ‘dirty’ was a bad choice of wording on my part, so I take it back. I wasn’t trying to say it was done with malicious intent, though I see why you took it that way. I just meant dirty in the sense that it wasn’t a legal hit, not that he necessarily went in explicitly trying to kill him. Bad choice on my part, though, I agree with you and I’ll own it.
PTF – See above. I appreciate your updated phrasing. I’ll agree with you ultimately in that we don’t know what these guys are thinking and that making a split second decision is wickedly more complicated than us poring over frame-by-frame analysis.
I’d also like to take back what I said about him bracing his forearm against his other hand. I took your advice and looked up Ding Productions footage, and the higher quality video clearly shows he had his hands near each other, but he did NOT brace his right hand against his left forearm as I originally thought, so my comment on that front was inaccurate.
Generally, though, I really don’t think you’re far off the mark. I could be convinced the tackle was an accident. I do still have an issue that they were AT LEAST 3 yards apart when Lawrence was CLEARLY in his slide. Even though things happen fast, Al-Shaair raises his forearm up and launches himself at Lawrence knowing the ENTIRE time that Lawrence was down. I think he had enough distance to pull up or swerve aside.
https://imgur.com/cXxsvNe
But yea, you could convince me it was an accident and Al-Shaair is just reeeaaaaaaaaally slow at processing. I fully agree this move trends towards the idiotic, and not the scumbag. I don’t follow the NFL media much, so I have no informed opinion on how overblown it is, but DeMeco blaming it on the Jaguars was pretty much like pouring lighter fluid on a campfire. Streisand Effect x20. If he just kept his mouth shut and said “I’ve spoken to the player, and I have no further comment,” this probably would have gone over faster.
Whether it’s manslaughter or murder, someone’s 6 feet under.
It reminded me of the hit Teddy Bridgewater took from Lamarcus Joyner once upon a time. Teddy was clearly sliding and Joyner not only goes low, but twists his body to throw his shoulder into Teddy’s head. He makes an unnatural move to inflict extra damage. I saw the same thing with the Al-Shaair hit: an unnatural tackle where he leads with his shoulder and forearm to deliver a blow. It’s the forearm that sends it over into “dirty” vs just “penalty”. That being said, there’s a difference between a “dirty hit” and a “dirty player”, I don’t think Al-Shaair is a dirty player…..yet…..but the line between “hard-hitter” and headhunter is usually attitude after the fact.
Yeah, you can see in the madden cam angle that he lowers his arm to hit Trevor in the face. Like if it wasn’t intentional, his arm would have just flew over Trevor’s head.
It was not his intention to hit Lawrence in the neck. He’s trying to minimize the mistake by aiming toward the chest, but Lawrence is too low, and he is in the air. If Lawrence was upright, it would have been a legal hit to the chest. Another thing that makes me doubt he was leading with his forearms to him on purpose is that Al-Shaair has never led with his forearms on any tackle in any game this year and it’s simply what you’re taught not to do in any level of football. Why would he suddenly do it now? Even his late hits are legal if he makes them on time.
“Even his late hits are legal if he makes them on time”
Are you a lawyer? Were you on OJ’s defense team?
“Yes your honor, my client did drive drunk, but if he hadn’t downed a handle of Southern Comfort, it would be legal.”
So you´re comparing a late accidental hit in a gladiator sport to Murder and Drunk Driving/Vehicular Manslaughter? I don’t know if you even realize you ´ re doing this on purpose or not, since you´re making the same ridiculous claims over and over again. Even Dave recognizes it was an accident, and not intentional.
Putting your forearm ahead of you before a tackle on another player is not “accidental”. You seem to be assuming a lot about his intentions, as if you can read his mind. It comes off looking like you’re jumping through hoops defending him.
Just stop.
“You seem to be assuming a lot about his intentions, as if you can read his mind.”
Can be said by both sides.
No one here is going to change the others mind.
What did I recognize as an accident? His movements, using himself as a missile and launching with his forearm, was not an accident. I don’t think he purposefully intended to genuinely hurt trevor but he took all the actions that would when he could have made better choices.
Trevor is a tall dude, as most quarterbacks are. Given that he is leaning back in a slide at the time of contact, his head is likely less than three feet off the ground. If he kept running, Shaair would have landed an upper-leg shot
or groin at highest, which would make sense if he was going for a wrap and a tackle, not a big hit. To me it just seems more likely he was going for the chest, saw him sliding and, whether consciously or instinctively, lowered to meet him.
3 games is a joke, typical soft roger
The hit was legit, but the circumstances made it look worse because it was a near perfect hit. Lawrence wasn’t fully down when he got hit, and Al-Shaair didn’t even hit him in the head. Definitely was violent, but shouldn’t have warranted a suspension.
The hit was not legit my guy come on. QBs are marked down the instant they start to slide, so yes, Lawrence was down before he was contacted. Secondly, Al-Shaair used his forearm and went for the human missile launch, which is something Football has been progressively outlawing and disincentivizing for years now, precisely because it causes things like this. Al-Shaair played the play wrong. You have to treat scrambling QBs differently because most QB scrambles end in a slide and you cannot hit people who give themselves up. Trevor isn’t known for trucking people like Josh Allen is. If he had gone for a tackle instead of a hit, he’d probably have caused less damage, been able to pull back easier, and not hit Trevor’s head. And he DID hit his head and neck.
https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2024/12/01/USAT/76690482007-usatsi-24887249.jpg?crop=3776,2124,x0,y0&width=660&height=371&format=pjpg&auto=webp
https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/ap24336823908611.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill
That’s not a chest hit, that’s his neck at minimum. Necks are treated as part of the head. The suspension was probably due to a lot of additional factors than just the hit, such as his behavior afterward and his earlier activity in prior games.
> I think Al-Shaair is one of those guys who does not know how to pull up or ease off. He wants to hit everyone really hard. Not a bad instinct for a linebacker, but one that must be measured appropriately and properly controlled.
I think that this is both true and that when players like this lose a step, they start becoming late hits.
As a former defensive player, I wholeheartedly agree with many commentators that QBs should be penalized for BS actions.
Patrick Mahomes tip-toeing the sidelines for extra yards and getting late hits flags should be flagged. QBs heading out of bounds? Go out of bounds or get flagged.
Josh Allen’s fake slides should be flagged.
Every QB running for a first down and purposely sliding late (like Trevor Lawrence just did and got knocked out for it) should be flagged.
Or, if a QB leaves the pocket, they lose all protections; not allowed to slide, no ticky/tacky late hit calls, nothing. Treat them like the NFL treats RBs, like trash.
Defensive players committing to hitting a running QB and that QB does stupid stuff late is NOT a dirty hit. If the NFL wants to protect QBs, ban the BS.