NFL: San Francisco 49ers at Buffalo Bills

Contract Photographer

Texans Jaguars Football

Lions Colts Football

The Washington Post

Updated share image for the 2024 NFL predictions page

Josh Allen,Fred Warner

Josh Allen

Philadelphia Eagles v Baltimore Ravens

Staff

other

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley and Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry.

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy; Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin and Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir.


Raiders Chiefs Football

CORRECTION Bears Lions Football

Daniel Jones

NFL: Dallas Cowboys at Washington Commanders

FILE PHOTO: Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill is forced from his vehicle by Miami-Dade Police Department officers in Miami

Colts Jets Football

Ravens Chargers Football

C.J. Stroud

NFL - Philadelphia Eagles at Los Angeles Rams, Inglewood, Usa - 24 Nov 2024

Philadelphia Eagles v Los Angeles Rams

Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Whether leaderboard ad sticky behavior is disabled

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show expanded byline information on articles

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Show the Balance of Power component on the new Election subnav component

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Enable new Elections subnav on Site pages

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

If true, will use a spoofed user agent to scrape and summarize content from paywalled sources

flip back to old full page reload when new updates come in

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Trump transition live updates: President-elect raises prospect of pardons for Jan. 6 crimes

Trump Campaign

The biggest sports news, video, scores and analysis

See more on this topic in your recommendations

Sports

The Sports Moment newsletter

Sports alerts

John Raoux

The NFL is reviewing the illegal hit by Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair that resulted in Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence suffering a concussion during a game Sunday in Florida.

The league’s review was confirmed Monday by a person familiar with the deliberations, who called it standard for any hit that could result in a fine or a suspension being imposed by the NFL. Al-Shaair was penalized by the officiating crew and was ejected from Sunday’s game. Lawrence left the field on a cart.

The hit on Lawrence, who was sliding at the end of a first-half run during the Texans’ 23-20 victory, drew an immediate retaliation by Jaguars players and resulted in an on-field scuffle between the teams.

Al-Shaair issued a public apology Monday to Lawrence.

“I genuinely didn’t see him sliding until it was too late,” he <a href="https://x.com/A_train2_/status/1863572522354020768" target=_blank>wrote in a statement posted to social media</a>. “And it all happens in the blink of an eye. To Trevor [I] genuinely apologize to you for what ended up happening.”

Al-Shaair wrote that he had spoken with Lawrence before the game and had wished him well, adding: “I would never want to see any player hurt because of a hit I put on them especially one that’s deemed ‘late’ or ‘unnecessary.’ To the rest of his teammates I can definitely understand you having his back and defending him in a situation like that.”

The skirmish occurred as members of the Jaguars’ medical staff rushed onto the field to examine Lawrence.

Lawrence was sitting upright and riding in the seat alongside the cart’s driver when he left the field. The Jaguars later announced that he had a concussion.

He wrote Sunday night <a href="https://x.com/Trevorlawrencee/status/1863411646506393843" target=_blank>on social media</a> that he was “home and feeling better.” Lawrence thanked “everyone who has reached out,” writing that it means “a lot.”

He was making his return to the Jaguars’ lineup after he missed two games because of an injury to his nonthrowing left shoulder. It has been a frustrating season for Lawrence and the Jaguars since the team signed him to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/06/13/trevor-lawrence-contract-deal-jaguars/" target=_blank>five-year, $275 million contract extension</a> in June. The Jaguars’ record fell to 2-10 with Sunday’s defeat, raising further questions about the job security of Coach Doug Pederson. They were returning from their bye week after suffering a 52-6 loss Nov. 17 in Detroit.

Mac Jones replaced Lawrence at quarterback during Sunday’s game. He started the Jaguars’ previous two games because of Lawrence’s shoulder injury.

Al-Shaair rammed both arms into Lawrence’s left shoulder with the quarterback already into his slide. Fans reportedly threw items at Al-Shaair as he exited the field following his ejection. Jaguars tight end Evan Engram immediately hit Al-Shaair following the play and was penalized for unnecessary roughness. Jacksonville cornerback Jarrian Jones was ejected for his role in the melee that followed.

Al-Shaair was fined $11,817 by the league earlier this season for an incident in which he punched Chicago Bears running back Roschon Johnson in the face mask during a confrontation along the sideline after he hit rookie quarterback Caleb Williams during a September game.

“I’ve always played the game as hard as I could,” Al-Shaair wrote Monday. “Never with the intent to harm anyone and anybody that knows me knows that. My goal is to hit you as hard as I can then I pray you’re still able to get up and play the next play. And when the game is over go home to your family unharmed because it’s not personal it’s just competition!”

Al-Shaair acknowledged the backlash to the hit on Lawrence, saying that some of it has been inappropriate.

“To the rest of the people who I’ve been called every single name in the book from reporters with their hands ready for a story to find their [villain], to racist and [I]slamophobic fans and people, you don’t know my heart nor my character which I don’t need to prove to any of you. God knows my intentions and anyone who has ever been a teammate or friend of mine knows my heart.”

Associated Press Sports Editors, 2004, fifth place in breaking news story over 250,000 circulation with Leonard Shapiro

Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association, 2003 editorial contest, first place sports story dailies over 75,000

Associated Press Sports Editors, 1997, honorable mention in best news story over 175,000 circulation

War Without Death: A Year of Extreme Competition in Pro Football's NFC East

University of Virginia, BA in rhetoric and communications

Mark Maske covers the NFL for The Washington Post. He has covered the NFL and the Washington Football Team since 1998. He previously covered baseball, the Baltimore Orioles, the effort to bring a major league team to Washington, and colleges.

Mark Maske

washpost

Azeez Al-Shaair apologizes to Trevor Lawrence after hit, concussion

the-washington-post

name

prism://prism.query/site,/sports/nfl&limit=20

Washington Post coverage of the National Football League.

National Football League

prism://prism.query/two-sites,/sports/redskins,/sports/washington-nfl&limit=3

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/commanders/

prism://prism.query/ap-articles-by-site-id,/sports/nfl&limit=5

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/sports&limit=20

Get concise answers to your questions. Try Ask The Post AI.

The Washington Post Sports section provides sports news, video, scores, analysis and updates about high school, college, and pro sports teams, including the Capitals, Nationals, Commanders, United, Wizards, Mystics and Spirit. Post Sports also offers discussions about the latest sports news.