ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The responses varied throughout the National Football League, but there was a one in all 13 games played in the United States on Sunday.
The reaction was to President Donald Trump’s tweets about NFL players kneeling, sitting or holding raised fists during the national anthem.
The president’s tweet storm began Friday night when he wrote that players who did so exhibited “a total disregard of our heritage.”
He followed up with, “That’s a total disrespect of everything we stand for…
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you’d say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, Out! He’s fired.’”
The president added, on Saturday, “If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem.”
The tweet went on, “If not, YOU’RE FIRED. Find something else to do!”
That outburst created an immediate marriage of two normally feuding groups, the National Football League and the NFL Players Association.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell strongly backed the players, noting, “Divisive comments like (Trump’s) demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players and a failure to understand the overwhelming force of good our clubs and players represent in our communities.”
And DeMaurice Smith, the NFL Players Association executive director added, “No man or woman should ever have to choose a job that forces them to surrender their rights.
“No worker nor any athlete, professional or not, should be forced to become less than human when it comes to protecting their basic health and safety.”
Individual players in multiple leagues responded immediately via the same format … Twitter.
Among them was Buffalo running back LeSean McCoy, who tweeted “It’s really sad man … our president is a (7-letter obscenity).”
And on Saturday night, Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula, general manager Brandon Beane, coach Sean McDermott, the team chaplain and a select group of players attended a voluntary meeting at the club’s facility that lasted about an hour.
The result was a team statement issued by the Pegulas about what they called the “divisive and disrespectful” remarks by the president.
It read: “Our players have the freedom to express themselves in a respectful and thoughtful manner and we all agreed that our sole message is to provide and to promote an environment that is focused on love and equality.”
On Sunday, the national anthem before the Bills-Broncos game at New Era Field was sung at a piano by Abby Anderson, of the Pegula’s Black River Entertainment recording studio.
The Bills walked out on the field as a group and about a quarter of the roster — McCoy, Marcell Dareus, Shaq Lawson, Ryan Davis, Lorenzo Alexander, Jordan Matthews, Shareece Wright, and Mike Tolbert among other — and some coaches knelt. Those who stood, locked arms. The Broncos, meanwhile, lined up on the sideline and about half the players and some coaches took a knee.
Among the Bills who stood was quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who noted of the meeting, “The main thing we came out with was this organization ultimately believes in love and equality for all people. (Some) individuals felt the need to kneel, some people stood. We respect each and everyone’s decision.
“Standing is something I’ve always done. I honestly pray during the national anthem … I’ve been doing that since I started sports as a kid. I try to stay to my routine. I do not condemn or look down in any way … I support them. They’re my brothers, if that’s their choice and they want to make it, I’m fine with that.”
Alexander added, of the protest, “It was in response to our President’s comments calling people that were peacefully protesting SOBs … for me the backdrop being Charlottesville and calling Neo-Nazis and KKK members fine people, then making that comparison and drawing a hard line versus NFL players doing something peaceful.
“That really touched me because the guys taking a knee are trying to bring social awareness to the injustice and inequities in this country. That doesn’t mean they’re not patriots or don’t love our country because we do. We have great privileges here but, as a U.S. citizen, I want to bring attention to things that need change.”
He added, “Today I kneeled, but I won’t continue to kneel … I kneeled to show those guys that I’ve got their back … that I’m with them.”
McCoy, meanwhile, was as pointed as his tweet in the post-game press conference.
“The flag and the national anthem means a lot to me … to my teammates,” he emphasized. “I was very bothered by the comments of the president of this country. As a president you’re supposed to lead us, you’re supposed to bring us together. I can’t stand and support something where our leader of this country is acting like a jerk … angry and upset about NFL players protesting in a peaceful manner.
“If a guy wants to take a knee to express himself in a (non-violent) manner, he has that right. Everybody that was bothered and felt like they wanted to kneel expressed themselves. Coach and the owners granted our wishes and that’s what we wanted to do. As you’ve seen around the NFL, not only the players, (but) a lot of owners have responded, and not in the president’s favor.”
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
