Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair shared an emotional apology on social media following his dirty hit which injured Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence on Sunday.
In the second quarter of the Texans' 23-20 win over the Jaguars, Al-Shaair illegally hit Lawrence in the head even though Lawrence had already given himself up by sliding to the ground. A feisty on-field scrum ensued between players while trainers attended to Lawrence, who immediately went stiff and displayed the fencing posture, one of the tell-tale signs of a head injury. Lawrence was carted off the field and ruled out due to a concussion, and Al-Shaair was one of two players ejected from the game.
Amid widespread outrage over the dirty hit, Al-Shaair took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to issue an apology to Lawrence and the Jaguars:
"I genuinely didn't see him sliding until it was too late. And it all happens in the blink of an eye," Al-Shaair wrote. "To Trevor i genuinely apologize to you for what ended up happening. Before the game we spoke and I told you how it was great 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's deemed 'late' or 'unnecessary.'
"To the rest of the people who I've been called every single name in the book from reporters with their hands ready for a story to find their villain, to racist and Islamophobic fans and people, you don't know my heart nor my character which I don't need to prove to any of you."
All Praise to Allah🤲🏾 pic.twitter.com/pEbCRAg8fF
— Azeez Al-shaair (@A_train2_) December 2, 2024
Al-Shaair has made other borderline and controversial plays in his six-year NFL career, as evidenced by a now-viral video of his "dirty" moves.
Thankfully, Lawrence appears to be okay after the hit. His availability for Week 14 remains up in the air.
"It's a play that nobody wants to see in our league," Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said in a postgame presser. "I've got a lot of respect for coach (DeMeco) Ryans. I know he doesn't coach his team that way and we don't coach our team that way. It's unfortunate. It really is. Just glad that Trevor is going to be fine."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Azeez Al-Shaair Apologizes to Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars for Dirty Hit.
