The NFL fined Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Evan Engram for retaliation against the player who delivered a season-ending hit to quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
Engram was fined $11,255 after attacking Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair in retaliation for his hit on Lawrence in the second quarter of Sunday’s game, according to NFL.com.
Engram was the first Jaguars player to go after Al-Shaair after the hit, as players from both teams swarmed to the area of the hit.
“It was a dirty hit,” Engram told reporters after the game. “In that moment, instinct was just, it didn’t feel like a clean hit, so I had to go stand up for my quarterback.
“I just knew it was wrong. It was a dirty play. You stood up for your guys. It’s just how it goes.”
While Engram was fined, Al-Shaair was suspended three games without pay. The NFL has said the linebacker’s involvement in the brawl played into the discipline.
Lawrence sustained his second concussion in a year from the hit and was placed on injured reserve. The quarterback will undergo shoulder surgery for an injury he initially sustained in Week 9 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
TREVOR LAWRENCE PLACED ON INJURED RESERVE, LIKELY ENDING HIS SEASON AFTER DANGEROUS HIT
Lawrence posted on X Sunday night that he was “home and feeling better.”
After the game, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans criticized the Jaguars for “overreacting” after Al-Shaair’s hit on Lawrence, suggesting the quarterback was at fault.
“It wasn’t our guys. It’s their team 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,” Ryans told reporters Sunday.
“I think what can be done is just you have to look at all sides, and we don’t have to overreact just because I think a guy gets hurt,” he said. “We’re not intentionally trying to hurt anyone. I think there is an overreaction when someone gets hurt, but we just have to look at it all from all perspectives.”
Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson defended his team for its reaction to the hit and called Ryans’ response to the incident “surprising.”
“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,” Pederson said.
“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.”
Al-Shaair has issued an apology and insisted he didn’t intend to hit Lawrence illegally. The linebacker has also spoken out against “racist and Islamophobic fans” in the aftermath of the public response to the incident.
But after it was announced Al-Shaair’s appeal of his three-game suspension was denied, he sent a message with a different tone Wednesday.
Al-Shaair posted an Instagram photo collection with the cryptic caption, “IF YOU WANT ME TO BE YOUR VILLAIN, ILL BE YOUR VILLAIN! SEE YOU SOON.”
The four photos he posted were of him entering the field, a pro-Palestinian cleat, a photo of Heath Ledger as The Joker and a quote that said, “There is a beauty in being rejected, misunderstood, unseen, and unprotected by people. It teaches you to rely on Allah for everything.”
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