Texans LB Azeez Al-Shaair Defends Controversial Hit on Sam Darnold
When you consider Denver Broncos linebacker Dre Greenlaw is going to have to wear a one-game suspension for verbally assaulting a referee; Houston Texans defender Azeez Al-Shaair must be fearing similar blowback from the league following his controversial hit vs. the Seattle Seahawks.
Al-Shaair has already racked up $400k in fines during his career, so his pocket figures to receive more significant damage this week due to his first-quarter hit on Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold during Monday Night Football.
While the footage of the Darnold incident tells a graphic story, the league will most likely view pretty dimly, Al-Shaair has his own alternative view on proceedings, and it's a story he best double down on.
"It really was me running with my receiver, him running. I pushed off of the receiver, right to the tackle. He lowers his shoulder," Al-Shaair detailed.
"We both just kind of hit each other. I'm driving him. He's trying to drive his legs. Still no whistle, but my head is in his chest. So, I don't know really where I'm at on the field. There's still no whistle. They never blew the whistle until after I dropped him on the ground."
Playing to the whistle is something Al-Shaair is convinced turned into a pretty grey area during MNF, and being in the heat of the moment is always pretty far removed from sitting up in the stands.
Straying into the no man's land of socking it to Darnold looked plain to see on TV, but Al-Shaair feels the guidance from the officiating crew was sorely missing on this particular occasion.
"It's just confusing because that happened a whole bunch today," Al-Shaair declared on Monday. "And I don't - I guess, normally, that you're able to kind of play a little bit longer with the whistle. But it’s just awkward- if the guy stopped, then blow the whistle. So, I just- it was weird."
If Al-Shaair is looking for someone to back up his own assertions– Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans also believes that the zebras didn't cover themselves in much glory on this occasion.
"I think that happened a few times in the game," Ryans insisted, via KPRC2 reporter Aaron Wilson. "Definitely agree there. Plays weren't stopped when they should have been stopped."
Ultimately, the stance both Al-Shaair and Ryans are taking won’t amount to muc,, especially when the league office brings the hammer down.
Of course, everybody these days is well aware how NFL quarterbacks will be a greatly protected species until the end of time; so the penny really should have dropped with Al-Shaair by now.
Simply playing far greater degrees of smart and intelligent football should indeed be at the very top of the to-do-lists of Ryans and Co. this week, but just maybe the riot act should be read out also behind closed doors?
Fundamentally, a far better balance needs to be found when setting a tone, but that's something which the ultra physical Al-Shaair has always struggled with, to be fair.
When you boil it down, Al-Shaair's own notorious reputation throughout the league undoubtedly now precedes him, and that's not going to change anytime soon.
After all, actions have consequences.
Yankees Legend's World Series Journey Saw Many Detours
The New York Yankees were in Toronto when they clinched the Wild Card in 1995. The moment was special for more reasons than it being the organization's first postseason appearance since 1981. It would mark the first time that Don Mattingly would be playing October baseball.
A cathartic Mattingly got on his knees and pounded Toronto's turf after the clincher. Mattingly, who debuted a year after the Los Angeles Dodgers bested the Yankees in the World Series, waited 1,785 days to get there. In those final weeks of the season, he hit .346/.417/.558 in 60 plate appearances, playing his part to ensure that he felt what it was like to play in the fall.
Mattingly's Long Journey
Reaching the World Series has been another story entirely for Mattingly. That journey has been longer. Between playing, coaching, and managing, Mattingly has finally arrived after 5,231 games.
"Obviously, it feels great to get there, and I feel like we're gonna play well too," Mattingly told Sweeny Murti for MLB.com. "Paul O'Neill told me once you get to the World Series, it's almost like this is the fun part. The feeling of fighting to get there is so tense. So, yes, I'm going to enjoy it. It's been really fun."
Very few have seen the things Mattingly has seen. In his prime, he got to play with Dave Winfield and Rickey Henderson. His first and only playoff home run had Yankee Stadium shaking.
Mattingly would return to the postseason as a coach. He sat beside Joe Torre as the organization collapsed in 2004. Those Red Sox leapfrogged over the Yankees to snap their 86-year curse. In 2015, he was in a similar position. In the NLCS, Mattingly watched a Chicago Cubs team snap their 108-year-old drought as his Dodgers fell in six games.
It looked like another team with another long World Series drought would send Mattingly home. It didn't happen, though, and it proved to be a full circle moment on two fronts. Those same Mariners who eliminated his Yankees in 1995 took the Blue Jays to seven games, but a George Springer home run sealed the deal for Toronto. Now, Mattingly's journey to the World Series ends in the same country where his playoff road began decades earlier.
Mattingly's Own Words
Mattingly described his route to the World Series as a "long road" to columnist Bill Madden of the Daily News.
“To be honest, I still don’t have the words,” Mattingly said. “It’s been a long road, but I always believed, although I didn’t think it would be Toronto. But this is a real team, a tough team that’s grown together and shown what can happen when you play good defense, put runners on base, keep making contact. All of that.”
What's most unfortunate is that if Mattingly does win his first championship, it won't be with the Yankees. He has two Steinbrenners to thank for that one. George's meddling in the 1980s kept the Yankees out, and Hal's conservative approach to roster building, often prioritizing costs over the product on the field, made the Blue Jays' dismantling of the Yankees feel like light work.
While Mattingly probably never guessed this opportunity would happen in Toronto, he'll probably take it. The captain has earned it after all these years.
