Steeler Villanueva ‘embarrassed’
Alejandro Villanueva said he never intended to stand alone during the national anthem on Sunday and apologized to his teammates and coach Mike Tomlin for what he called “a very embarrassing” butchering of the team’s pregame plan.
“Every single time I see that picture of me standing by myself, I feel embarrassed,” Villanueva said.
Villanueva, an Army Ranger who was deployed in Afghanistan, said he asked quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the rest of the team’s leaders to amend their original idea, agreed upon on Saturday night, which was to stand in the locker room during the anthem in an attempted show of unity.
Villanueva’s suggestion, he said, was to stand with Roethlisberger and the team’s other captains at the front of the tunnel. That didn’t work out due to, as Roethlisberger said, pregame “chaos” in a small area, and Villanueva was left to stand alone with his teammates about 20 feet behind him.
“The crazy thing about that is, when we came out of the tunnel, we told Al to come stand up front with the captains. Cam, myself and (Tyler Matakevich),” Roethlisberger said.
“When we came out of the locker room into that tunnel, it was a very small area. There was a flag or something coming off the field so there were a bunch of Bears fans, coming off the field holding that (and) going in front of us, so it kind of held us up.”
Villanueva took sole responsibility for the mix-up.
“I made coach Tomlin look bad, and that is my fault and my fault only,” he said. “I made my teammates look bad, and that is my fault and my fault only.”
GIANTS: The Giants have fallen into a deep pit three games into the season, and their chances of getting out are not good.
Only five teams that started the season 0-3 since 1980 have rallied to get to the postseason. The last was Buffalo in 1998. Compounding the Giants’ problem is that they are now 0-2 in the NFC East.
Coach Ben McAdoo on Monday reiterated the Giants’ problems are mostly self-inflicted in discussing their heart-breaking 27-24 loss to the Eagles on a last-second, 61-yard field goal by rookie Jake Elliott.
There were 10 penalties; a dropped touchdown pass by Sterling Shepard; a failed fourthdown run from the 6-inch line; a shoddy run defense; bad tackling; a 28-yard punt with the game on the line; and no running attack.
PANTHERS: Coach Ron Rivera expressed relief Monday after an MRI revealed wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin has no structural damage to his left knee. Benjamin’s status will be day-to-day.
BENGALS: Linebacker Vontaze Burfict is eligible to return after completing a three-game suspension from the NFL for his latest egregious hit. He’s expected to start in Cleveland.
BEARS: Safety Quintin Demps suffered a broken arm in the 23-17 victory over Pittsburgh and will be out an indefinite period of time.
EAGLES: Running back Darren Sproles tore his ACL and broke his wrist on the same play in Sunday’s win over the Giants.