Another week of star-spangled political play
WEEK 5: IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
From U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence’s own protest of national anthem protests — labelled a “PR stunt” by one player — to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ claim he won’t let members of his team play if they “are disrespecting the flag” to retired announcer Brent Musburger’s jab at Colin Kaepernick’s old club, “The Star-Spangled Banner” is somehow STILL a subject of National Football League conversation.
Hard to believe, yet here we are, more than two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump brought up the matter out of the blue at a rally in Alabama.
Pence left the Indianapolis Colts’ 26-23 victory over visiting San Francisco on Sunday after about a dozen 49ers players took a knee during the anthem — and Trump tweeted that he told his VP to do that.
San Francisco safety Eric Reid said he thought the whole thing looked phoney. “He knew our team has had the most players protest, he knew that we were probably going to do it again,” Reid said. “This is what systemic oppression looks like: Man with power comes to the game, tweets a couple things out and leaves the game in an attempt to thwart our efforts.”
Sunday’s loss dropped the 49ers to 0-5 this season, prompting this tweet from Musburger aimed at the team: “Since you instigated protest, 2 wins and 19 losses. How about taking your next knee in the other team’s end zone?”
Several team owners have been big Trump backers, and Jones is one. So maybe no one should be too stunned that after Dallas lost to the Green Bay Packers 35-31 on Aaron Rodgers’ 12-yard TD pass to Davante Adams with 11 seconds left, Jones became the first owner to publicly announce he will take action against players who kneel or sit during the anthem.
“The whole deal is political and incited by politics. But let me be real, real clear: The thing that the National Football League needs to do and the Dallas Cowboys are going to do is stand for the flag. We’re going to do that,” Jones said.
“If there’s anything that is disrespectful to the flag,” he added, “then we will not play. OK? Understand?”
The NFL had nothing to say about any of this.In case you missed it, injuries were another top topic after the NFL season’s fifth Sunday: LOSING STARS There is, of course, an inevitability about injuries in a sport as inherently violent as football, but it’s striking nonetheless when so many players depart, one after another after another: Odell Beckham Jr.’s broken left ankle made him the fourth — yes, fourth! — New York Giants wide receiver to leave a 27-22 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers; J.J. Watt’s broken left leg sent him to the hospital and made him the third — third! — player to leave unbeaten Kansas City’s 42-34 victory over Houston by the end of the opening — yes, opening! — drive. Watt joined Houston’s Whitney Mercilus (chest) and Kansas City’s Steven Terrell (concussion) on the sideline. Later, one of the NFL’s top tight ends, Kansas City’s Travis Kelce, was evaluated for a concussion, and Chiefs WR Chris Conley was carted off with an apparent leg injury.
OBJ, meanwhile, cried and used his jersey to cover his face as he was driven off the Giants’ field.
Fellow Giants WRs Sterling Shepard and Brandon Marshall each sprained an ankle on one drive in the second quarter, and Dwayne Harris broke his foot on a kickoff return.