Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence insists he's 'way past' the violent hit from Houston's Azeez Al-Shaair

Audio By Carbonatix

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Trevor Lawrence has watched the replay dozens of times, even recently. The slide. The hit. The reaction. The aftermath.

He’s over it. Lawrence doesn’t really want to relive it again this week as Houston linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair prepares to return to Jacksonville for the first time since knocking Lawrence out of a game last December and getting suspended for three games.

“I’m past that, way past that at this point in my life,” Lawrence said Wednesday. “It’s not something I’ve thought about since then. Everybody’s different. It’s football. It’s a violent game. Obviously, it’s unfortunate when things like that happen.

“I don’t want to get into all of that again. We’re past that. Not going to look into the rearview mirror.”

Lawrence doesn’t plan to go out of his way to see Al-Shaair before the game, either. But he realizes the two captains will meet at midfield for the coin toss.

“Will I say anything to him? Not outside of … what I would do with whoever was out there for the toss,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence was carted off the field after taking a shot from Al-Shaair to the facemask. The late hit caused a sideline-clearing brawl and a second scuffle a few minutes later.

The unsportsmanlike blow left Lawrence in the fencing position — a common response to a traumatic brain injury in which both fists clench — and he stayed on the ground for several minutes while a melee ensued nearby. Lawrence was quickly ruled out with a concussion.

Al-Shaair was ejected and then got hit in the helmet with a water bottle thrown by a fan as he left the field. He apologized to Lawrence via social media the following day and was eventually suspended without pay for repeated violations of player safety rules.

“I’ve gotten all type of crazy stuff since that day, and I still get it to this day from people just in general,” Al-Shaair said Wednesday. “I don’t know if they’re fans of football or they just hate me. Either way, that’s between them and God. But I have no clue.

“I know I’m going to go out there and do what I’ve done my entire career, play as hard as I can (and) anybody who got the ball in their hand, that’s who I’m trying to hit and just do my job.”

New Jaguars coach Liam Coen doesn’t expect any kind of retribution when the Texans (0-2) try to win their seventh consecutive game at Jacksonville (1-1) on Sunday.

“If that’s on our minds, then we’re probably thinking about the wrong things right now,” Coen said.

The best response from the Jaguars would be to notch a victory, one that would put the two-time defending AFC South champions in a huge hole; Houston is one of only six teams since 1979 to make the playoffs after opening the season 0-3.

“Obviously, you don’t want to see your teammates get hit,” Jaguars defensive end Josh Hines-Allen said. “The emotions were high. At the end of the day, man, that was last year. Trevor’s a tough guy and he bounced back. I know he’s excited to go out there and play to the best of his ability and go from there.”

Al-Shaair, who said he was in a “really dark place” during the suspension and wondered if he’d ever play again, still seems disappointed about how he was characterized. NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan said the defender’s “lack of sportsmanship and respect for the game of football” was troubling.

“It’s definitely a personal thing in a way because it’s just about the credibility of my name," Al-Shaair said. "But I guess that’s more just how I attack the whole season because obviously that was a league-wide thing that they tried to make me out to be somebody that I wasn’t.

"For me, I’ve just kind of been trying to prove a point every single week of who I am, and I play hard, but I play the game the right way, so that’s just what I’m going to keep doing.”

___

AP Sports Writer Kristie Rieken in Houston contributed to this report.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl