49er smells ‘PR stunt’ after VP bolts from Colts game
Pence says protest disrespected America, but it’s not like he couldn’t see it coming
Just when you thought the highwater mark in the NFL’s anthem-protest issue had been reached, Jerry Jones drenched everyone with the second of two tidal waves on Sunday.
“If there is anything that is disrespectful to the flag, then (he) will not play,” a clearly angered Jones said Sunday night, shortly after his Dallas Cowboys lost 35-31 to the Green Bay Packers.
Jones actually used the collective “we,” not “he,” in his rant, but the owner meant any Cowboys player. All Dallas players stood for the U.S. national anthem at Sunday’s home game.
“Understand? If we are disrespecting the flag, then we will not play, period,” Jones said.
Then Jones reverted to using “we” in the more common manner.
“We cannot, in any way, give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag,” he said. “We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind that the (NFL) and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag.”
There is no NFL rule insisting players stand while the anthem plays. The league merely says team members on the sidelines should stand. That didn’t stop Jones from adding:
“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. It’s the rules that are on the book, in my opinion.”
This came on a day when U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence and his wife showed up in Indianapolis ostensibly to help honour Peyton Manning, as the club honoured the retired QB who spent most of his career with the Colts. But the Pences didn’t hang around for those halftime festivities, instead bolting right after many San Francisco 49ers players knelt while The StarSpangled Banner played.
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that Pence had orders to leave immediately if any players on either team were “disrespecting” the flag and anthem.
Critics allege it was a setup, because for 20 straight regular season games dating back to the beginning of last season, at least one 49ers player took a knee during the anthem. It couldn’t, or at least shouldn’t, have come as a surprise to Pence, Trump or anyone that 23 Niners players did exactly that on Sunday.
Pence, an Indiana native, later tweeted that he refused to “dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our flag or our national anthem.”
San Francisco safety Eric Reid, one of the first teammates to join former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in his protests in 2016, took particular offence.
“This looks like a PR stunt to me,” he told Jennifer Lee Chan of Niners Nation, per profootballtalk.com. “He knew our team has had the most players protest. He knew that we were probably going to do it again.
“This is what systemic oppression looks like. A man with power comes to the game, tweets a couple of things out and leaves the game with an attempt to thwart our efforts. Based on the information I have, that’s the assumption I’ve made.”
HERO: ADAM VINATIERI, PK, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
The ageless wonder kicked a 51-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Colts past the Niners. In so doing, he extended his NFL record for most game-winning overtime field goals to 10. What’s more, the 44-year-old made all three of his field-goal attempts in regulation too, including a 52-yarder.
ZERO: CHRIS FOERSTER, NOW EX-OL COACH, MIAMI DOLPHINS
So that was a good idea: Invite a bikini model into your office and allow her to videotape you apparently snorting lines of cocaine off your desktop. ’Nuff said.
STOCK UP: CARSON WENTZ, QB, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
It’s more than his scintillating first-quarter performance against Arizona, in which he fired three TD passes. So far in his second pro season, Wentz has thrown 10 TD passes (sixth most in the league) against just three interceptions after throwing 16 TDs all of last season against 14 interceptions. His completion percentage is 62 per cent, but his passer rating this year now flirts with the century mark at 97.7.
STOCK DOWN: AMARI COOPER, WR, OAKLAND RAIDERS
Way, way down — the No. 4 overall draft pick in 2015 put together back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons, with 72 and 83 catches, respectively. But this season he’s practically invisible in the Raiders’ attack. He has 13 catches for 118 yards through five games.
EYE ON CANADIAN CONNECTED NFLERS
Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie tight end Antony Auclair of Notre-Dame-des-Pins, Que., made his NFL debut Thursday against New England. He got in on just one offensive snap, but on 66 per cent of the Bucs’ specialteams plays. Auclair did not dress in the Bucs’ previous three games … Rookie nose tackle Eli Ankou of Ottawa had four tackles in the Jaguars’ win at Pittsburgh … Dallas defensive end Tyrone Crawford of Windsor, Ont., had a sack and a tackle for loss against Green Bay … Brett Jones of Weyburn, Sask., played centre on all 70 offensive snaps for the New York Giants.