Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans Suggests Trevor Lawrence at Fault in Concussion Incident
Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans spoke out on Monday about the concussion suffered by Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence in their matchup over the weekend, suggesting that Lawrence was partially at fault for the hit he suffered from linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair.
Ryans told reporters that the organization stood behind Al-Shaair, who hit Lawrence around the head and neck area as he slid during a scramble, and did not believe that Al-Shaair was the only one at fault. Rhys described the hit as “unfortunate” and emphasized that it was a “twofold” issue.
“You don’t know if a guy is standing up and he’s continuing to run, you don’t know, and then you get a late slide, and you’re – you hit the guy,” Ryans said. “Unfortunate that Trevor got hurt. Hope Trevor is OK, but it’s also, if we’re sliding, we have to get down. If we’re getting out of bounds, we get out of bounds and that rule is there to protect the quarterbacks, and we want our quarterbacks to be safe in the league, so we just have to be safe. If we’re sliding, make sure we’re keeping our heads down.”
Ryans also commented on the reaction from the Jaguars’ sideline, suggesting that their side overreacted and pulled Al-Shaair away from the play. “It wasn’t our guys. It’s their team overreacted, pushed our guy, dragging our guy to the sideline, so that’s uncalled for on that side. We have to be better on the sidelines, as well, with both teams.”
Ryans’ comments come as the NFL is expected to suspend Al-Shaair in the coming days.
