Ryan Fitzpatrick defends DeMeco Ryans after controversial Trevor Lawrence comments

Azeez Al-Shaair's cheap shot on Trevor Lawrence is going to continue to be the talk of not just the Houston Texans world but the entirety of the NFL as well. DeMeco Ryans didn't help his chances of the discussions going away anytime soon when he decided to throw some blame onto Lawrence for the dirty hit's occurrence.

While Ryans' comments were considered to be in poor taste, former Texans and long-time NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick jumped in to defend the Texans head coach.

"I hate that Trevor got hurt and would argue that the forearm shiver whether he could pull off or not by Azeez seemed excessive but I would also say that when Demeco [sic] Ryans talks I listen. He is probably as qualified as they come to speak on this issue and the difficulties as a defender."

Ryan Fitzpatrick has DeMeco Ryans' back after controversial comments

Fitzpatrick says that while the "forearm shiver" on the hit by Al-Shaair "seemed excessive", he's going to give Ryans the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his comments. As a quarterback, Fitzpatrick argues that Ryans is qualified on this issue, as he played linebacker in the NFL for 10 seasons.

While I'd agree that Ryans has a unique perspective on the situation, putting the blame on Lawrence when Al-Shaair has a history of dirty plays isn't the best look. It was also in poor taste to say that the Jaguars players overreacted to the hit because we all know that if a Jags player hit C.J. Stroud like that, Ryans wouldn't be saying, "Oh it was partially on Stroud" and saying that his players overreacted.

No, he'd be defending his quarterback by putting blame on the defender and he would be applauding his team for defending Stroud. This is just a tough situation to be in and Ryans probably should have found a different choice of wording if his end goal here was to defend his players.