That hit Trevor Lawrence took from Azeez Al-Shaair has sidelined him for the season. Also, it garnered some mixed reactions from the football world. Some thought that the Texans’ LB suspension was warranted, while others thought football has become too soft these days. Tom Brady thinks QBs should be fined for sliding late, and Drew Brees has other thoughts on it.

The former Super Bowl-winning QB took to Colin Cowherd’s show and threw down the gauntlet. He thinks that hit could have been avoided and the linebacker should have been vigilant of Lawrence’s movement. Brees is siding with the court of public opinion and expressed that the tackle was a far cry from a “glancing blow.”

“The minute you see him slide, you have to elevate yourself up over the top and avoid that hit. It’s not to say that there’s not going to be these glancing blows, but that wasn’t a glancing blow. That was a forearm, to the face, head smacking the ground, like, it looks vicious,” Brees expressed on The Herd with Colin Cowherd.

Al-Shaair must have realized where he went wrong and apologized to Trevor Lawrence after the game. However, that apology could have been avoided in the first place. The Texans LB has a bad rapport with the offensive players, and he’s already been fined $11.8k this season for hitting Bears RB Roschon Johnson and another $11.2k for hitting Tony Pollard in week 12.

Though he has taken some questionable actions in the past, we’re still not here to vilify the linebacker’s actions. Drew Brees put it, “It’s difficult to play defense nowadays.” They are paid less than the offensive players (which has nothing to do with the situation) but at the same time, the league is seemingly making rules to protect the quarterbacks and offensive players. To that end, Brees sympathized with the Texans LB.

“The way the rules are, you really almost as a defensive player just like have to sit there flat-footed and wait for the quarterback to make a decision. And you don’t want to get embarrassed as a defensive player. You don’t want that quarterback to all of a sudden decide to lower his shoulder and run you over, right?” Brees said on Cowherd’s show.

While Brees presented both sides of the coin, the 7x Super Bowl winning QB, Tom Brady, thinks that quarterbacks should be penalized for this kind of behavior. Check out what he had to say on Colin Cowherd’s show. People think Azeez Al-Shaair is a dirty player, but for Brady, it’s just a narrative.

Tom Brady gets real on Trevor Lawrence’s injury

Before we visit Brady’s comments, let’s talk about the Texans coach backing his defender. For DeMeco Ryans, this hit was a result of the quarterback trying to gain an extra yard and implied that Lawrence might have wanted to take advantage of the league’s QB-friendly rules. But that hugely backfired on on the QB. Tom Brady, like Ryans, is supportive of the defense.

“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’s a hit on a quarterback,” Brady told Cowherd.

The Texans are 8-5 and the next three games are too crucial for anyone in perfect health to miss out. They are on a bye week and when they return, they will be lining up against the Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs, and the Baltimore Ravens. They need a good defender in all these games and Al-Shaair won’t be there.

What are your thoughts on the situation? Let us know below.