Former NFL quarterback and Fox analyst Tom Brady said he had “mixed emotions” about the uproar surrounding a late hit on Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence on Sunday, and argued quarterbacks need to “take better care of themselves” when leaving the pocket to run.
Appearing on Fox’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” on Tuesday, Brady argued that the onus of protecting a running quarterback doesn’t just fall on the defense. Brady’s comments came after the NFL suspended Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair for three games for the hit that concussed Lawrence. Al-Shaair is appealing the suspension.
“It’s gone to a point where everyone will label a certain player as a dirty player; I don’t like that one bit,” Brady said. “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 is a hit on a quarterback.’”
Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, detailed a story during his playing career where he slid late and took a crushing hit. His teammates told him to get down because “these players are coming to get you.”
“Defensive players have to be aggressive, that’s their nature,” he said. “I always tried to be aggressive on offense, we tried to block aggressively and at the same time the defense tried to tackle aggressively.”
Brady added, “I see Josh Allen running a lot, I see Lamar Jackson running a lot and it’s a great skill to have. I wish I had that skill set. And at the same time, when you run, you put yourself in a lot of danger, and when you do that, I don’t think the onus of protecting an offensive quarterback who’s running should be on a defensive player. I don’t really think that’s fair to the defense.”
Al-Shaair apologized for the hit on Lawrence on Monday.
Texans general manager Nick Caserio addressed his frustration in a Tuesday news conference amid the backlash Al-Shaair has received since Sunday, defending the linebacker.
Brady said it is also up to offensive coordinators and play callers to help protect quarterbacks by not calling so many designed runs.
“The aspect for a play caller, there’s more design runs for quarterbacks ever now than in the history of the NFL. So are we really trying to protect quarterbacks? Because if you are trying to do it through the rules then why are the offensive coordinators not protecting by keeping them in the pocket and not designing as many quarterback runs?”
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