The Dallas Cowboys' big win on Thanksgiving allowed fans to take in Sunday's NFL action without a care in the world.
Unfortunately, the slate was headlined by a truly malicious act in the Texans-Jaguars game when Houston linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair leveled Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence after Lawrence gave himself up on a scramble.
Lawrence very clearly entered a sliding position and Al-Shaair, though he didn't lead with his helmet, dove full-speed and rocked the former No. 1 overall pick in the helmet with his forearm. The NFL suspended Al-Shaair three games, which seems fair all things considered.
The hit represented everything in the league is trying to remove from the game and it has sparked a national conversation about QB safety - specifically whether the quarterback slide is actually protecting players.
Hall of Fame tackle Joe Thomas weighed in on social media with an insightful solution - one that has the support of Micah Parsons.
Cowboys' Micah Parsons weighs in on NFL's Azeez Al-Shaair controversy
Thomas believes the quarterback slide is "weaponized." There is absolutely zero defending Al-Shaair's hit, like Thomas said, but the former 10-time Pro Bowler isn't wrong in saying that the slide both exposes QBs to malicious hits and puts defenders in an impossible spot.
The NFL would be better off outlawing the slide altogether.
Because of how fast the game moves, it is extremely difficult for defenders to process in real time if and when a QB is going to slide. It is nearly impossible. Defenders are essentially tasked with having to predict when a quarterback will give themselves up.
We have seen quarterbacks slide late to avoid hits, fake slide to pick up an extra few yards and pretend they're giving themselves up out of bounds only to tack on yards at the end of their scramble. Thomas wants these acts to be a 15-yard penalty on the offense.
While a nifty idea, referees can't even get helmet-to-helmet calls right. We're hard-pressed to think they would execute Thomas' idea without any hiccups. Even if they handled it with a plum, penalizing fake slides won't fully remove big hits on QBs when they're sliding. The game has simply evolved too much.
At the end of the day, the NFL has to find a middle ground - one that protects quarterbacks that abandon the pocket, but also doesn't force defenders to play a guessing game and abandon instincts they developed likely at a young age.
Change has to happen, one way or another.
