Brotherhood on the Field: Jaguars Respond to Flagrant Hit on Trevor Lawrence | Game That Was

Dec 01, 2024 at 07:49 PM

John Oehser

Jaguars Senior Writer

JACKSONVILLE – Reaction was swift, decisive and pointed.

Evan Engram led it – and the veteran tight end was far from the only Jaguars player defending quarterback Trevor Lawrence on the field following a dangerous and flagrant hit Sunday.

Engram was vocal following the game, too.

"It was a dirty hit, obviously," he said.

Engram, the Jaguars' eight-year tight end and a team leader, was referencing a hit on Lawrence by Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair in the second quarter of the Texans' 23-20 victory over the Jaguars at EverBank Field Sunday.

Lawrence left the game with a concussion, with Al-Shaair having tackled Lawrence with a forearm to the helmet while launching. Lawrence was sliding on a six-yard run on second-and-7 from the Jaguars 49 with 3:57 remaining in the first half and the Texans leading 6-0.

"That was a dumb hit on his part," Jaguars defensive end Josh Hines-Allen said. "Hate to see it. The first thing I thought was to go get him (Al-Shaair) because it's a brotherhood. We love Trevor. We ride with him. To see that … it wasn't a good play on his (Al-Shaair's) part."

Asked his initial reaction, Hines-Allen said, "I was angry."

"That was a bad play," he said. "The way we've changed the rules on how we play, we go over these things. We talk about these things. We know how to play football. The game has changed. A couple of years ago, that would have been a great hit. Now, that wasn't a good play. It wasn't a smart play."

Jaguars Head Coach Doug Pederson called the hit "a play nobody wants to see in our league."

"You see what happens after the fact and it just escalates," Pederson said.

Engram immediately leveled Al-Shaair, with tight end Brenton Strange also immediately involved along with most Jaguars offensive players. Multiple players from both teams tumbled toward the Jaguars' sideline and the fighting continued as trainers gathered around a motionless Lawrence.

"It was just instinct," Engram said. "It didn't feel like a clean hit, so just go stick up for him. I saw him sliding and then I saw the hit. I just knew it was wrong. I knew it was a dirty play."

The fighting and altercation continued while Lawrence sat up and rode from the field on a cart, then resumed briefly when Al-Shaair was walking to the visitor's locker room following his ejection.

"My first reaction was just, 'Defend Trevor,''' Jaguars rookie wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. said. "We all defend each other, we all love each other, so that's what we're going to do. We're going to protect each other."

Officials penalized Engram, also ejecting Jaguars rookie cornerback Jarrian Jones for leaving the bench and throwing a punch. Referee Land Clark said in a post-game pool report that no Texans players were penalized for crossing the field to join the altercation because they "were mostly restraining their own players."

"Obviously Jarrian on our side of it can't do what he did, either," Pederson said. "That's unacceptable as well. The league will obviously send out fines for both players and maybe some others. It's an emotional football game as it is, but at the same time, you have to be the bigger man in situations like that. It's just fortunate that nobody else was ejected from the game."

While Clark said the officials didn't issue warnings against further action, Allen said, "The coaches told us, 'The next violent play you're going to get ejected.'''

Pederson called the incident "unfortunate."

"I have a lot of respect for [Texans Head] Coach [Demeco] Ryans," Pederson said. "I know he doesn't coach his team that way. We don't coach our team that way. I'm just glad Trevor's going to be fine."

The Jaguars, after trailing 6-0 at the time of Lawrence's injury, rallied twice on Sunday – first tying the game 6-6 early in the third quarter and then cutting a 23-6 fourth-quarter deficit to the final margin with two fourth-quarter touchdown passes by backup quarterback Mac Jones.

"I thought we could have gone one of two ways," Jaguars center Mitch Morse said. "We could have lost our discipline, or we could have honed in and understood the situation we were in. I thought it was the latter.

"You really do have a brotherhood in this locker room. It was emotionally charged there. You'd be remiss to say it wasn't. We also understood that you could use that constructively or you can get outside of yourself and then it could have gone worse for us. I thought we did the best we could."

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The Jaguars on Sunday morning announced they have signed fourth-year left tackle Walker Little to a contract extension. Little, a second-round selection by the Jaguars in the 2021 NFL Draft, has started 22 games in four NFL seasons and has started at left tackle the past five games after the Jaguars traded starting left tackle Cam Robinson to the Minnesota Vikings. "I'm excited for Walker," Pederson said. "It's a great opportunity for him. It just shows the commitment the organization has and the type of player he is, to really get him locked up. For him, it's a little piece of mind knowing he's going to be here for the long haul. I'm excited for him and his family."
Jaguars running backs coach Jerry Mack will become the head coach at Kennesaw State, the school announced during Sunday's game. Mack joined the Jaguars' staff this past offseason. "I'm excited for Jerry," Pederson said of Mack, the head coach at North Carolina Central from 2014-2017. "It's a great opportunity for him to become a head coach again in college football at Kennesaw State. I just thank Jerry for what he has done here. He really has changed that running-back room and done some really good things for us. I wish him well. I'm excited for him to be able to watch him continue his career as a head coach."