JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson has no problem with how his team reacted to the illegal hit on quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who was placed on injured reserve.
Pederson said he was “a little surprised” that Houston coach DeMeco Ryans blamed Jacksonville’s sideline for escalating the brawl and seemed puzzled that some former Jaguars players questioned whether the team did enough to respond.
“I don’t know what that means,” Pederson said Wednesday. “We’re not out to hurt anybody. We’re not out to ruin careers. We’re out to win a football game and play hard within the rules. That’s our job. That’s how we coach it, that’s how we play it.
“If they’re asking or suggesting we go after someone, we’re not doing that. Flat out, we are not doing that. It’s not how I coach. It’s not how I’m going to coach these teams, these players. We’re just going to go out and do our jobs. Play hard, play fast, play physical within the rules.”
Former Jaguars cornerback Bucky Brooks, the team’s current sideline reporter, called the team’s response “a collective shrug” in a post on X.
“Most teams would’ve enacted some form of vigilante justice to ensure that kind of hit didn’t happen again,” Brooks wrote. “Now, every future opponent knows they can take shots without fear of retaliation.”
Former Jaguars defensive lineman Austen Lane took issue with players suggesting they didn’t do more for fear of getting ejected and fined.
“At the end of the day, when one of your own gets taken out like that, I think there’s some teams in the NFL that have pride — whether they’re in playoff contention or they haven’t won a game yet — they’ll try to make it right,” Lane said during his daily show on Action Sports Jax.
Houston linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was suspended by the NFL without pay for three games for repeated violations of player safety rules following the hit to Lawrence’s head, which caused the quarterback's second concussion in less than a year.
Al-Shaair led with his forearm and helmet while hitting Lawrence after he started his slide. The unsportsmanlike blow left Lawrence in the fencing position — a common response to a traumatic brain injury in which both fists clench — and he stayed on the ground for several minutes while a melee ensued nearby. Lawrence remains in the NFL’s concussion protocol and was placed on injured reserve Wednesday, likely ending his season.
“I told him, ‘You have a daughter; you have a blessing that’s coming. So get right, take care of yourself, take care of your family, and we’ll be here holding it down and waiting til’ you get back next year,” running back Travis Etienne said.
Etienne and other teammates attacked Al-Shaair near the sideline, with tight ends Evan Engram and Brenton Strange leading the charge. Rookie cornerback Jarrian Jones was ejected for throwing a punch.
“I would be naïve to say I didn’t really do nothing,” Jones said Wednesday, still awaiting a fine from the league office. “One of the biggest things I regret about it is getting ejected from the game and not being there for my teammates. But as far as the whole thing went, that’s my brother. I’d do the same thing for all 70 guys or however many make up the Jags organization.”
The Jaguars (2-10) trailed 6-3 at halftime and were down 23-6 before mustering a late rally that came up short. Defensive end Josh Hines-Allen said the ultimate response would have been winning for Lawrence.
“We didn’t do enough," he said. "We ended up losing the game. We lost.”
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Mark Long, The Associated Press
