Bowles: We can’t get caught up in Prez’s tweets
Donald Trump is President of the United States. But according to Jets coach Todd Bowles, Trump’s words aren’t more meaningful or significant than those of an Average Joe sitting in the stands.
“It’s no different than a fan saying something when you’re coming through the tunnel. You got to set that out of mind. The biggest problem here is the issues,” Bowles said Monday on a conference call, one day after his Jets locked arms in a show of unity before defeating the Dolphins, 20-6, in their home opener at MetLife Stadium. “If you focus on the issues, no matter who’s saying what doesn’t matter. Whether it’s the president, whether it’s another player in another sport, whether it’s the coach, whether it’s the fans, it really doesn’t matter if you don’t focus on the issues. And the issues are the things that happened in Charlottesville and you got hurricane victims here and there, and you got to focus on the issues because the he say, she say and the Twitter beefs and all that stuff really doesn’t matter.”
At a rally in Alabama Friday night, Trump blasted NFL players who’ve protested racial injustice by kneeling, sitting or raising their fists during the national anthem — a movement started by Colin Kaepernick. Trump urged NFL owners to fire or suspend any “son of a bitch” who protests during the anthem.
In response to Trump’s comments, NFL players around the league took knees on Sunday during “The Star Spangled Banner.” The Jets, meanwhile, opted to lock arms during the anthem. Acting owner Christopher Johnson participated, standing in between Josh McCown and Jamal Adams.
“We still locked arms because we’re united,” Bowles said Monday. “We’re trying to show that we can get things done as a country if we unite together. We’re trying to show unity within our team, we’re trying to show unity for the league, and we’re trying to show unity for everything, altogether, and it’s inclusive. So I’m not a big comment guy. I’m not a who-said-what and what-saidwho. …The problems don’t really matter if you’re not trying to find a solution.”
Bowles and McCown said the team has not yet decided if it will repeat the demonstration next week at home against Jacksonville.
“That’s something we’ll talk about. I don’t feel one way or the other,” Bowles said. “I thought they did a very good thing yesterday. I support it wholeheartedly. I was one of them locking arms, and we’ll discuss it during the week and I’m sure we’ll have our answer going forward as a team.”
The Jets players and Bowles were in a particularly difficult position Sunday considering owner Woody Johnson is currently serving as Trump’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.
“It’s always a delicate situation any time you talk about social issues,” Bowles said of Johnson’s connection to Trump. “Regardless of what it is, regardless of who’s in charge, it’s always a delicate thing. But these guys are socially aware and they have a conscience and they want to be heard.”
Bowles held a meeting with his team Saturday night during which he provided all his players the opportunity to voice their opinions and discuss any feelings they had about Trump’s harsh criticism. Bowles said the team “spoke candidly, and everybody had good perspective when the meeting was over.”
According to Bowles, no Jets player talked about wanting to kneel or sit during the anthem Sunday. “If somebody felt that way, they sure didn’t say it,” he said.
Bowles said in training camp that any player’s decision to kneel or sit during the anthem is his “individual right.”
During the team meeting Saturday, Bowles tried to convey some of his own experiences as a black man in America.
“The biggest thing is to understand what you’re talking about and what you’re doing it for. If you can answer those two questions, then how you want to react on that is something you have to do as a man,” Bowles said. “We have a great relationship, and they have great trust in me and I have great trust in them, and they can come to me with anything and I’ll talk to them, take my coaching hat off and talk to them off the things I’ve seen and experienced and try to put things in perspective for them. All I can do is draw the picture for them. They got the crayons. They can color it any way they want to color it.”