Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans took the opportunity on Tuesday to defend linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, who was suspended by the NFL for three games after leveling a violent hit on Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence during the team’s Week 13 win.
“With the entire Azeez situation, we stand behind Azeez,” Ryans said, via KPRC2. “It’s two-fold. A lot of quarterbacks in this day and age, they try to take advantage of the rule or they slide late and they try to get an extra yard. You’re a defender, a lot of onus is on the defender. Whether it’s on the sideline or whether it’s on the quarterback, you don’t need what a guy is thinking. You don’t know if a guy is staying up and he’s continuing to run. You don’t know, and then you get a late slide and you hit the guy.
“It’s unfortunate that Trevor got hurt. I hope Trevor is okay. But it’s also, when you’re sliding, you have to get down. Getting out of bounds or getting down, that rule is there to protect the quarterbacks. We want our quarterbacks to be safe in the league. So we just have to be safe and when we’re sliding, make sure we’re keeping our heads down. The entire thing, Azeez hits the guy, but their sideline overreacts and it turns into a melee. But it wasn’t our guys. Their team overreacted, dragging our guy, pushed our guy to the sideline. So, that’s uncalled for on that side.”
Ryans is probably correct that there is an issue with late-sliding quarterbacks. We’ve seen it in both the NFL and college football. But he’s wrong that the issue is relevant to this particular slide. Lawrence got down in plenty of time.
The Jaguars may have “overreacted” to the hit itself, but they also reacted in what is pretty standard fashion for an NFL team whose quarterback gets laid out by a hit like the one Al-Shaair laid on Lawrence. The situation wouldn’t have escalated if not for the hit being leveled in the first place.
After defending Al-Shaair’s hit, Ryans also went on at length about the linebacker’s character and leadership.
“He’s an exceptional leader for us. He’s a really good leader for us and he plays the game the right way,” Ryans said. “His intent is never to hurt anyone as he’s playing the game. Anyone that knows Azeez, talks to Azeez — nobody with a bigger heart than Azeez. This guy’s a special guy that I’ve known since 2019. Special young man, love working with him.
“For any picture that’s painted of him being a dirty player or doing something intentional, that’s the exact opposite of what Azeez is. People who know Azeez, they know how he plays the game. Yes, he plays it fast. He plays it physical. But sometimes that physical nature gets misunderstood in today’s game.”
The team’s general manager Nick Caserio spoke on the suspension and Al-Shaair’s character, defending his player and emphasizing his distain for the negative comments.
“I think one of the biggest issues that we sort of take umbrage with … is the picture that’s been painted of Azeez. Quite frankly, it’s unfair,” he said. “And I’d say one of the biggest issues … is consistency from the league. And I’d say in this situation, quite frankly, there is no consistency at all relative to the level of discipline that’s been handed down.”
He called the situation “embarrassing” and “bullshit,” saying the league doesn’t know Al-Shaair and their statements on him do not paint an accurate picture. Caserio says the letter implies that Al-Shaair “doesn’t give a crap about the fans, doesn’t give a crap about playing football the right way, is not coachable. It couldn’t be further from the truth.”
“We’re going to support Azeez. We love everything about him. We’re glad he’s apart of this team,” he said.
One of the biggest messages from Caserio’s address to the media was his belief that the league is not consistent when it comes to disciplinary action. He noted other players who were ejected from games but not suspended, or suspended for as many games, iincluding Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch, Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James and Buffalo Bills safety Kareem Jackson.
The GM emphasized the issue he sees in the commentary surrounding his player, defending his player with examples of his selflessness.
“There’s not a more selfless individual more about the team who’s earned the respect, that represents everything that we want the program to be about. I mean this morning, he was at a United Way event. So we’re talking about some of the commentary that has been made about his character, about the person that he is, about what is intentions are from people that quite frankly don’t know anything about Azeez Al-Shaair,” Caserio said. “And for the league to make some of the commentary that they made about lack of sportsmanship, lack of coachability, lack of paying attention to the rules — quite frankly it’s embarrassing. And we’re talking about a player who’s never been suspended [and] never been ejected.”
Again, it’s entirely possible that Al-Shaair is a fantastic leader and even a great person; it’s just not relevant to whether the hit on Lawrence was dirty — which it was. Good leaders and people can do things that are wrong. It happens all the time, and it happened here. The NFL reacted accordingly.