‘Dirtiest player in NFL’ revealed as VP who made final call to suspend Azeez Al-Shaair with decision that enraged Texans
The final decision to suspend Azeez Al-Shaair was made by one of the “dirtiest” players in football history. Jon Runyan, NFL vice president of policy and rules administration, announced on Tuesday that Al-Shaair would be suspended for three games following a diving blow to the head of Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. GettyAzeez Al-Shaair’s hit against Trevor Lawrence has been the talk of the NFL[/caption] “You led with your forearm and helmet and delivered a forceful blow to the head/neck area of your opponent when you had time and space to avoid such contact,” Runyan wrote to the Houston Texans linebacker. Runyan started his pro playing career in 1996 with the Houston Oilers and spent four years with the franchise, then became a Pro Bowl offensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles. Video footage surfaced of Runyan running up to an unaware San Francisco player and hitting the 49ers player so hard that he fell backward and hit the ground while play had almost stopped. “If Runyan did that, he would be suspended,” a fan tweeted. “It’s a different game.” John McClain, who’s covered the NFL for 48 years and is a Pro Football Hall of Fame voter, exclusively told talkSPORT’s Run Down Show that Runyan used to be known as the “dirtiest player in the NFL.” “Who would know cheap shots better than Jon Runyan?” McClain said. Texans general manager Nick Caserio strongly backed Al-Shaair on Tuesday while attacking the NFL for a lack of consistency in applying player discipline. “For the league to make some of the commentary that they made about lack of sportsmanship, lack of coachability, lack of paying attention to the rules, quite frankly, it’s embarrassing,” Caserio said. McClain said that Al-Shaair’s hit was “dirty.” But, like Caserio, he took up for the undrafted 27-year-old who’s now set to miss big Texans (8-5) games against Miami, Kansas City and Baltimore. x@49ersSportsTalkJon Runyan, center, was known for being a ‘dirty’ player with the Eagles[/caption] x@henrycmckennaAl-Shaair hit Lawrence in the head as the Jaguars QB was sliding[/caption] GettyRunyan made the final call to suspend Al-Shaair for three games[/caption] “It was a dirty hit,” McClain said. “It was a blatant, dirty hit. “There’s a lot of people trying to say here, in Houston, that it was Trevor Lawrence’s fault. “No, it was not Trevor Lawrence’s fault. Watch it in slow motion — he started his slide. “When a quarterback starts to slide, a defensive player knows to back away. Not only did Al-Shaair not back away, but he went in with his forearm.” Some NFL fans have argued that Lawrence slid too late, leading to Al-Shaair’s violent head blow and a concussion for the Jacksonville QB. Tom Brady said that QBs should be fined or penalized for sliding late. “If we don’t want these hits to take place, we’ve got to penalize both the offense and the defense,” Brady told The Herd. McClain said that “people would have yawned and gone back to the huddle” if Lawrence had received a similar shot while playing in the NFL during the 1970s or ’80s. “An Al-Shaair hit like that would have been legal,” McClain said. “That’s one of the reasons they worked so hard to change these rules and told quarterbacks to slide. “If you had slid back then, you’d have been kicked off your team for being a wussy. “Today, it’s changed and you’ve got to be disciplined and you’ve got to make sure that you follow the rules.” Still, the longtime Houston-based writer agreed with Caserio that Al-Shaair is a better person and teammate than the “dirtiest player in the NFL” described. “What’s interesting to me is the way he’s being portrayed around the country by people who don’t know him,” McClain said. “In the locker room, he’s a really quiet, nice guy. He’s a team leader — players love him.” talkSPORT is your home of the NFL on UK radio, and you can stay up to date with all the latest from around the league via our dedicated ‘EndZone’ YouTube channel.
The final decision to suspend Azeez Al-Shaair was made by one of the “dirtiest” players in football history.
Jon Runyan, NFL vice president of policy and rules administration, announced on Tuesday that Al-Shaair would be suspended for three games following a diving blow to the head of Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
“You led with your forearm and helmet and delivered a forceful blow to the head/neck area of your opponent when you had time and space to avoid such contact,” Runyan wrote to the Houston Texans linebacker.
Runyan started his pro playing career in 1996 with the Houston Oilers and spent four years with the franchise, then became a Pro Bowl offensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Video footage surfaced of Runyan running up to an unaware San Francisco player and hitting the 49ers player so hard that he fell backward and hit the ground while play had almost stopped.
“If Runyan did that, he would be suspended,” a fan tweeted. “It’s a different game.”
John McClain, who’s covered the NFL for 48 years and is a Pro Football Hall of Fame voter, exclusively told talkSPORT’s Run Down Show that Runyan used to be known as the “dirtiest player in the NFL.”
“Who would know cheap shots better than Jon Runyan?” McClain said.
Texans general manager Nick Caserio strongly backed Al-Shaair on Tuesday while attacking the NFL for a lack of consistency in applying player discipline.
“For the league to make some of the commentary that they made about lack of sportsmanship, lack of coachability, lack of paying attention to the rules, quite frankly, it’s embarrassing,” Caserio said.
McClain said that Al-Shaair’s hit was “dirty.”
But, like Caserio, he took up for the undrafted 27-year-old who’s now set to miss big Texans (8-5) games against Miami, Kansas City and Baltimore.
“It was a dirty hit,” McClain said. “It was a blatant, dirty hit.
“There’s a lot of people trying to say here, in Houston, that it was Trevor Lawrence’s fault.
“No, it was not Trevor Lawrence’s fault. Watch it in slow motion — he started his slide.
“When a quarterback starts to slide, a defensive player knows to back away. Not only did Al-Shaair not back away, but he went in with his forearm.”
Some NFL fans have argued that Lawrence slid too late, leading to Al-Shaair’s violent head blow and a concussion for the Jacksonville QB.
Tom Brady said that QBs should be fined or penalized for sliding late.
“If we don’t want these hits to take place, we’ve got to penalize both the offense and the defense,” Brady told The Herd.
McClain said that “people would have yawned and gone back to the huddle” if Lawrence had received a similar shot while playing in the NFL during the 1970s or ’80s.
“An Al-Shaair hit like that would have been legal,” McClain said.
“That’s one of the reasons they worked so hard to change these rules and told quarterbacks to slide.
“If you had slid back then, you’d have been kicked off your team for being a wussy.
“Today, it’s changed and you’ve got to be disciplined and you’ve got to make sure that you follow the rules.”
Still, the longtime Houston-based writer agreed with Caserio that Al-Shaair is a better person and teammate than the “dirtiest player in the NFL” described.
“What’s interesting to me is the way he’s being portrayed around the country by people who don’t know him,” McClain said.
“In the locker room, he’s a really quiet, nice guy. He’s a team leader — players love him.”
talkSPORT is your home of the NFL on UK radio, and you can stay up to date with all the latest from around the league via our dedicated ‘EndZone’ YouTube channel.
