{"id":175362,"date":"2025-07-02T10:41:24","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T10:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/175362\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T10:41:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T10:41:24","slug":"houstons-al-shaair-apologizes-for-hit-on-jacksonvilles-lawrence-that-led-to-concussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/175362\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston’s Al-Shaair apologizes for hit on Jacksonville’s Lawrence that led to concussion"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Houston\u2019s Azeez Al-Shaair took to X on Monday morning to apologize to Jacksonville\u2019s Trevor Lawrence after his violent blow to the quarterback\u2019s facemask<\/a> led to him being carted off the field with a concussion.<\/p>\n

Back in the starting lineup after missing two games with a sprained left shoulder, Lawrence scrambled left on a second-and-7 play in the second quarter of Houston\u2019s 23-20 win<\/a> on Sunday. He initiated a slide before Al-Shaair raised his forearm and unleashed on the defenseless quarterback.<\/p>\n

In the long post<\/a>, Al-Shaair, who was ejected for the hit, first said he didn\u2019t see Lawrence sliding until \u201cit was too late\u201d and that it happened \u201cin the blink of an eye\u201d before saying he was sorry for the hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo Trevor I genuinely apologize to you for what ended up happening,\u201d Al-Shaair wrote. \u201cBefore the game we spoke and I told you how great it was to see you back out on the field and wished you well. I would never want to see any player hurt because of a hit I put on them, especially one that was ruled \u2018late\u2019 or \u2018unnecessary.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawrence clenched both fists after the hit \u2014 movements consistent with what\u2019s referred to as the \u201cfencing response,\u201d which can be common after a traumatic brain injury. He was on the ground for several minutes as teammates came to his defense and mobbed Al-Shaair.<\/p>\n

Houston coach DeMeco Ryans said Monday that those kind of plays are difficult for defenders to navigate.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunate hit on the quarterback,\u201d Ryans said. \u201cBut it\u2019s two-fold, a lot of the quarterbacks in this day and age, they try to take advantage of the rule where they slide late and they try to get an extra yard and now … a lot of onus is on the defender, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t know what a guy is thinking,\u201d he continued. \u201cYou don\u2019t know if a guy is staying up and he\u2019s continuing to run. You don\u2019t know, and then you get a late slide and you hit the guy. Unfortunate that Trevor got hurt. Hope Trevor is OK, but also if we\u2019re sliding, we have to get down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Al-Shaair was ejected for \u201can illegal hit on the quarterback, unnecessary, to the neck and head area,\u201d referee Land Clark said in a pool report Sunday. Jaguars rookie cornerback Jarrian Jones also was ejected for throwing a punch during the melee.<\/p>\n

As Al-Shaair was leaving the field, fans started screaming at him. Jaguars veteran guard Brandon Scherff joined in, prompting another altercation with Al-Shaair. Texans teammate Will Anderson grabbed Al-Shaair and was escorting him off the field when a fan threw a water bottle and hit Anderson in the helmet. The fan was later ejected.<\/p>\n

Later in his post on X, Al-Shaair said he understood why Jacksonville\u2019s players came to the defense of Lawrence in the brawl following the hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can understand you having his back and defending him in a situation like that,\u201d Al-Shaair wrote.<\/p>\n

But Ryans criticized the response of the Jaguars after the hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAzeez hits the guy, but their sideline overreacts and it turns into a melee,\u201d Ryans said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t our guys, their team overreacted, pushed our guy, dragging our guy to the sidelines. So that\u2019s uncalled for on that side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in his post, Al-Shaair complained about reporters and others for their commentary about him in the wake of the hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the rest of the people who I\u2019ve been called every single name in the book from (to) reporters with their hands ready for a story to find their villain, to racist and Islamophobic fans and people, you don\u2019t know heart nor my character which I don\u2019t need to prove to any of you,\u201d he wrote. \u201cGod knows my intentions and anyone who has ever been a teammate or friend of mine knows my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said Sunday it was a play that \u201dreally has no business being in our league,\u201d and Ryans said \u201cthat\u2019s not what we\u2019re coaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, Al-Shaair was flagged and later fined $11,255 for a late hit out of bounds on Titans running back Tony Pollard.<\/p>\n

He was fined earlier this year after he punched Bears running back Roschon Johnson on the sideline in Week 2. That occurred during a scuffle that started after his hard shot on quarterback Caleb Williams near the sideline wasn\u2019t flagged.<\/p>\n

Al-Shaair, a sixth-year pro, will certainly receive a fine for the hit on Lawrence and could also be suspended.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of his post on X, Al-Shaair said he\u2019s always played the game hard and that he would never intentionally try to harm anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is to hit you as hard as I can and then pray you\u2019re still able to get up and play the next play,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAnd when the game is over go home to your family unharmed because it\u2019s not personal, it\u2019s just competition! We both are trying to do the same thing which is provide for our families!\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Sports Writer Mark Long contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Houston\u2019s Azeez Al-Shaair took to X on Monday morning to apologize to Jacksonville\u2019s Trevor Lawrence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2060],"tags":[15930,8189,1036,3607,13284,4432,7,565,221,212,125,2401,213,5932,6,498,4077,9,10562,695,314,5557,573,13122],"class_list":{"0":"post-175362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville-jaguars","8":"tag-azeez-al-shaair","9":"tag-brandon-scherff","10":"tag-caleb-williams","11":"tag-demeco-ryans","12":"tag-doug-pederson","13":"tag-fl-state-wire","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-houston","17":"tag-jacksonville","18":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","19":"tag-jacksonvillejaguars","20":"tag-jaguars","21":"tag-jarrian-jones","22":"tag-nfl","23":"tag-nfl-football","24":"tag-roschon-johnson","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-tony-pollard","27":"tag-trending-news","28":"tag-trevor-lawrence","29":"tag-tx-state-wire","30":"tag-u-s-news","31":"tag-will-anderson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114783223282865112","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}