Rival Coach Offers Baffling Response to Illegal Hit on Jaguars Star

Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans had a string of odd responses to the Jacksonville Jaguars' reaction to the hit on Trevor Lawrence.

Dec 1, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson greets Houston Texans head coach Demeco Ryans afar a game at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Most of the sports world was in agreement when Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence suffered a concussion on Sunday as a result of an illegal hit from Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair: there is no place for that type of hit in the sport.

Well, that is except for Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans.

Ryans offered support for Al-Shaair on Monday, which is far from unusual. A head coach is supposed to defend his guys. But Ryans took it a step beyond that, even pointing to Lawrence and the Jaguars for being at fault for the situation and the ensuing chaos.

Texans coach DeMeco Ryans passionately stood by linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair and said the Jaguars “overreacted” to the late hit on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. pic.twitter.com/mHhWcZNcx0

— DJ Bien-Aime (@Djbienaime) December 2, 2024

"We stand behind Azeez and everything you know that came from that. Of course, he unfortunately hit on the quarterback. But it's also, it's two-fold, right?" Ryans said.

"I mean, 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 you're a defender, a lot of onus is on the defender, right? Whether it's on the sideline or whether it's on the quarterback, you don't know what a guy is thinking. You don't know if a guy will stand up and he's continuing to run, you don't know. And then you get a late slide and you're, you know, you hit the guy. Unfortunate that Trevor got hurt. I hope Trevor is okay, 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 want our quarterbacks to be safe in the league. So we just have to be safe, and we're sliding, make sure we're keeping our heads down so."

Along with Ryans throwing some blame toward Lawrence for the hit and his ensuing injury, Ryans also pointed the fingers for the post-hit scuffle on the Jaguars sideline directly at the Jaguars' roster.

"And the entire thing is, you know, Azeez is the guy, but their sideline overreacts, and it turns out and turns into a melee. It wasn't our guys, it's their team," Ryans said. "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."

It is safe to say there will be no love lost between the two teams moving forward. The Jaguars' quarterback suffered a scary injury due to an illegal hit and his team responded like most would, including how the Texans would have reacted if the roles were reversed.

Despite that, Ryans seems to think the Texans are the victims in this situation and the problem rests entirely on the Jaguars and their injured quarterback.

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