Cheap shot on Lawrence deserves suspension from NFL — and wrath of DUUUVAL

By Hays Carlyon

There’s wrath.

And then there’s DUUUVAL wrath.

Houston linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair deserves all of it.

Al-Shaair did his best to end Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s season and potentially his career on Sunday. He launched himself into a sliding Lawrence making sure to throw his forearm into Lawrence’s head.

The illegal hit easily could’ve been avoided. Lawrence started his slide at the Houston 46-yard line. Al-Shaair was just crossing the 42-yard line. He had plenty of room to let up.

Instead, he chose to deliberately injure Lawrence in despicable fashion. Lawrence’s body stiffened, displaying the fencing position associated with brain trauma. Lawrence was removed from the game with a concussion with four minutes left in the second quarter. Houston went on to win the game 23-20.

It was the worst cheap shot I’ve ever seen in a football game.

Legendary Houston sports writer John McClain, honored in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for a now 48-year career covering the league, tweeted “I can’t remember a cheap shot worse than what Al-Shaair did to Lawrence.”

The NFL should suspend Al-Shaair for the rest of the season at a minimum.

Al-Shaair was ejected for the violation. Referee Land Clark described the infraction to a pool reporter after the game.

“An illegal hit on the quarterback, unnecessary, to the neck and head area,” Clark said.

Lawrence is lucky he was able to walk out of the stadium with his wife.

Jaguars coach Doug Pederson didn’t display any temper when talking about the hit in his press conference but made his feeling known.

“It’s a play that really has no business being in our league,” Pederson said. “It’s a play that nobody wants to see in our league obviously because you see what happens after the fact and it just escalates. I’ve got a lot of respect for Coach Ryans [Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans]. I know he doesn’t coach his team that way. We don’t coach our team that way. It’s unfortunate. I’m just glad that Trevor’s going to be fine. He’ll obviously be in the protocol, but it just is an unfortunate play.”

The hit immediately set off a brawl as Lawrence’s teammates came to his defense. Tight end Evan Engram went after Al-Shaair, shoving him in the back multiple times. Engram was joined by cornerback Jarrian Jones (who also got ejected), receiver Brian Thomas Jr., tight end Brenton Strange, right tackle Anton Harrison, defensive end Travon Walker and defensive tackle Maason Smith among others as Texans players converged into the melee.

All of these Jaguars should be commended.

“It was a dirty hit,” Engram said. “Obviously those hits are always in question. Trevor was going down and I saw it out of my peripheral. I got a pretty clear view of it, and in that moment, just instincts. It just didn’t feel like a clean hit, so just go stick up for my quarterback. I just knew it was wrong. It was just a dirty play and you stick up for your guys. It is just how it goes.”

The 27-year-old Al-Shaair is in his sixth year in the league. Sunday was his 83^rd career game in the NFL. Amazingly, he’s a captain on this Houston team.

He knows better. He should be punished severely by the league office. He was fined $11,000 earlier this season for throwing a punch at Chicago running back Roschon Johnson after a late hit on Bears quarterback Caleb Williams.

“It’s unfortunate with the hit, with Azeez,” Ryans said. “It’s not what we’re coaching. Want to be smart in everything we do and not hurt the team, get a penalty there. Have to be smarter when the quarterback is going down. Unfortunate play. Not representative of who Azeez is. He’s a smart player, really great leader for us. I’ll talk to Azeez, address him personally, and we’ll move forward from it.”

Ryans, Al-Shaair and the Texans might move forward from it, but DUUUVAL won’t.

Within 20 minutes of the vicious penalty, Jaguars fans were posting Al-Shaair’s home address on X/Twitter and finding his social media accounts.

They will never forget this.

The NFL needs to do the right thing and make sure Al-Shaair doesn’t take another snap in 2024. A player can’t put another man’s career in jeopardy with a blatant, merciless cheap shot to the head. A strong message must be sent if the league is serious about player safety.

(You can email Hays at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter/X @HaysCarlyon)