Tom Brady has thoughts on Azeez Al-Shaair’s hit on Trevor Lawrence, and they might arrive as a surprise considering the source.
He thinks that quarterbacks should shoulder more of the blame when it comes to hits deemed as late on quarterback slides. The former Patriots and Bucs quarterback spoke about the topic during an appearance with “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” Tuesday.
Brady told Cowherd that he has “mixed emotions” on the topic, then told the story of a lesson his teammates taught him early in his career when he got his helmet knocked off after sliding late.
“If you’re gonna slide, you better get down,” Brady said his teammates told him. “These guys are coming to get you.”
He then expressed sympathy with defensive players when they’re in a position of making split decisions on whether or not to hit a quarterback.
“Defensive players have to be aggressive,” Brady said. “That’s their nature.”
Brady continued matter-of-factly that quarterbacks are responsible for their own safety, which shouldn’t be strictly up to defenders tasked with stopping them.
Brady didn’t make that comment directly about Lawrence and Al-Shaair, nor did he directly declare that Lawrence slid late. But he reached his conclusion in a conversation about the controversial hit that concussed Lawrence and sparked a brawl between the Jaguars and Texans.
Al-Shaair has since apologized for injuring Lawrence, but hedged on whether his hit was actually late. His coach DeMeco Ryans full-throatedly defended Al-Shaair in a message similar to Brady’s that put the onus on Lawrence for protecting himself.
The NFL has since issued its ruling. It deemed Al-Shaair’s hit illegal and suspended him on Tuesday for three games. The suspension, which cited repeated infractions by Al-Shaair, came with a stark message from NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan.
So there’s plenty of disagreement here. But Brady’s stance was clear.
A traditional pocket passer who became one of the game’s all-time greats despite limited mobility, Brady also has thoughts on who’s responsible for protecting quarterbacks who do frequently run.
As for how to fix things? Brady suggested penalizing quarterbacks when they don’t get down in time for a defender to pull back.
“Maybe they fine or penalize a quarterback 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 quarterback.”