"Tom Brady is the wrong messenger" - Hall of Famer sounds off on 7x Super Bowl champ's hypocrisy on Trevor Lawrence hit
Hall of Famer and sports commentator Shannon Sharpe took a shot at seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady for his take on Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair's hit on Trevor Lawrence. Tom Brady refused to take the quarterback's side in this debate despite Al-Shaair being adjudged to have delivered an illegal hit on Lawrence, which resulted in a concussion.
In an appearance on Colin Cowherd's The Herd, Brady said:
“Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt but it is also the reality of a very physical sport that we play. Defensive players have to be aggressive. That’s their nature. There’s an aspect where I think the quarterbacks need to take better care of themselves."
Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe didn't take too kindly to what he believed was hypocrisy on the seven-time Super Bowl champion's part. On the Nightcap Show with Chad Ochocinco on Friday, the Broncos legend called Brady out over his take on Azeez Al-Shaair's hit:
“Tom Brady is the wrong messenger. Does he not know the Brady Rule was instituted to protect him? It’s easy to say that ex post facto. Tom Brady said well, hell, I ain’t gotta take no more hits, punish the quarterback. Really, bro? Really?
“Tom is the wrong messenger. He took advantage of it (the rule). He said the onus shouldn’t be on the defensive player to protect the offensive player, that’s what he said."
The "Brady Rule," which is already in force, currently prohibits defensive players who are on the ground from lunging at a quarterback's legs to protect the signal caller.
This rule was instituted after Tom Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in 2008 following a similar hit.
Sharpe added that he gets the point Brady was trying to make but that the Patriots legend was the wrong man to make that point.
“As a quarterback who benefited from it, you can’t say change the tax code when you benefited from the old tax code and you made millions and billions.”
Tom Brady proposes controversial NFL rule change
During the same interview with Colin Cowherd, Brady proposed a radical way of eliminating the sort of hits that led to Trevor Lawrence being ruled out for the year.
"Maybe they fine or penalize a quarterback for sliding late and say, 'Look, if we don't want these hits to take place, we've got to penalize the offense and the defense rather than just penalize the defensive player for every single play that happens when there's a hit on the quarterback,'" Brady suggested.
Brady also suggested that NFL offensive coordinators were also responsible for "not protecting their quarterbacks" by calling more designed runs.