Fall owners meeting turns into summit over NFL saving face

Roger Goodell will be there Tuesday and Wednesday to host. Of course, because it’s the NFL annual fall owners meeting, all the millionaires and billionaires will be in attendance, too, this year checking into a lower Manhattan hotel. The special guest list to discuss the national anthem controversy includes union boss DeMaurice Smith and a group of players.

Basically, the only person missing from the list is Francis Scott Key. There also is no indication Colin Kaepernick will be there but since he’s been living in New York, it would make sense if he was invited.

Key was a 35-year-old lawyer and occasional poet in 1814 when he came up with the words that became known as the Star-Spangled Banner. It officially became the national anthem in 1931. Because of previous commitments, Key has sent his regrets to the NFL and has left it up to Goodell, the owners, Smith and the players to figure out what to do with his beautiful song.

It’s the first time I can ever remember anybody from the NFLPA being invited to an owners’ meeting. But the league has a crisis. Its business is being adversely impacted by the national anthem protest. There’s nothing that brings together sides that hate each other as much as the league and the union like the loss of revenue.

The issue began last year when Kaepernick, then a 49ers quarterback, elected to sit, then later kneel, for the national anthem as a way to protest racial oppression, inequality and police brutality. The anthem protest issue was calming down earlier this season when fewer than eight players didn’t stand in Week 2. But it exploded when President Trump referred to any player who didn’t stand as a “son of a bitch.”

To stand or kneel has opened the discussion about players disrespecting the flag and overshadowed the social issues Kaepernick was protesting.

The owners have given the players the freedom to follow their heart during the anthem, but there is little doubt they want them to stand. Why? Right next to patriotism is capitalism. The anthem protests have been divisive among the fans and if it hasn’t already cost the NFL a lot of money, it certainly has the potential. When the NFL loses money — tickets sales, sponsorships, TV ratings — the players lose money.

“The current dispute over the National Anthem is threatening to erode the unifying power of our game, and is now dividing us, and our players, from many fans across the country,” Goodell said in a letter to owners last week.

He also said, “Like many of our fans, we believe that everyone should stand for the National Anthem. It is an important moment in our game. We want to honor our flag and our country, and our fans expect that of us.”

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has made the strongest stand. He said last week any player who doesn’t stand for the anthem will not play. He met with his players Wednesday to explain his position. Unless one of the Cowboys decides to protest Jones telling them what to do, this will not be an issue: None of the Cowboys, who have a bye Sunday, had sat or knelt for the anthem.

I believe Jones’ stance has more to do with having a feel for what Cowboys fans want and his own beliefs than trying to support his friend Trump. Jones has stayed away from taking political positions during his 28 years owning the Cowboys but he has never shied away from making the best financial decisions for the Cowboys.

Jerry Jones’ son Stephen, the Cowboys chief operating officer and executive vice president, told the Daily News, “The Cowboys fan base, right or wrong, they think there is zero room for not standing and respecting the flag. I think our fans base would believe there’s a better way — they respect our players and their views, but it shouldn’t be done in and around the flag.”

Not one member of the Cowboys has criticized Jerry Jones for his threat. He has supported his players who have gotten into trouble to a fault. “He will stand in front of a train for them,” Stephen Jones said. “He also would hope they would respect the things that are important to him.”

Goodell told the owners in the letter the anthem controversy is preventing the league and players from making real progress on the issues. He said the league has “worked to develop a plan,” which will be discussed at the league meetings and will include an “inseason platform to promote the work of our players on these core issues, and that will help to promote positive change in our country.”

Francis Scott Key would be proud.

ZEKE’S TIMING

Zeke Elliott’s risk fighting his suspension through the court system rather than serving the six games at the beginning of the season: Getting a temporary injunction would allow him to play but he would ultimately lose and have to sit out six games during the most important part of the 2017 season. Elliott suffered a setback when he lost a Court of Appeals ruling, 2-1, on Thursday and unless his legal team can quickly get the injunction put back in place, he will miss the Cowboys’ next six games after their bye Sunday: at San Francisco, at Washington, Kansas City at home, at Atlanta, followed by

Philadelphia and the L.A. Chargers at home. They should beat the 49ers without him, but they will have a tough time with Washington, the Chiefs, Falcons and Eagles . ... Victor Cruz wants to come back to the Giants. He should have thought of that before he accused the Giants of freezing him out of the offense last season so they could get rid of him as an excuse for his nearly invisible numbers — 39 catches, 586 yards, 1 TD. Cruz was delusional then and delusional now if he thinks he didn’t burn all the bridges that lead back to East Rutherford. It’s too bad. He’s a good guy who was a great story until he was injured nearly three years to the day that his buddy OBJ went down last week . ... Peyton Manning was at the Giants’ opener in Dallas. He lives in Denver so he will likely be at the Giants-Broncos game Sunday night. Eli is going to need some consoling after this one.

FEELING GREEN

The Jets are catching the Patriots at the right time. New England has struggled to protect Tom Brady — he’s been sacked 16 times in five games compared to 15 in 12 games last year — and the defense can’t stop anybody. It’s a huge bonus for Jets fans to get a meaningful game in October with first place in the AFC East on the line. ... The concept of the Jets tanking the season never applied to the players and coaches. The coaches are fighting to keep their jobs and the players know their careers are at stake. The tanking had to do with Ambassador Johnson cutting payroll and GM Mike Maccagnan’s decision to go with young players, limiting the Jets’ opportunity to be competitive this season. The

ODELL TIMING

Here are some questions the Giants and their medical staff need to answer: Was Odell Beckham’s broken left ankle related to his high ankle sprain he suffered in Cleveland on Aug. 21? Did the first injury make him more susceptible to the second injury? Did he come back too soon? Was he pressured to come back too early?

It will be interesting to see if John Mara follows through on his promise to sign Beckham to a big money deal or whether the Giants will now wait to make sure he is the same player in 2018 following last week’s surgery. At the very least, Beckham will play for the $8.4 million option the Giants picked up in April.

This is going to be a fascinating — and tricky — negotiation.

POOR LUKE

Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly has now suffered a concussion in each of the last three seasons after he left Thursday night’s loss to the Eagles in the second quarter and was placed in concussion protocol. He is just 26 years old and is one of the best players in the league but now must give serious consideration to retiring. He missed the final six games in 2016 — he was carted off the field crying — and another three games in 2015 after suffering a concussion. “We need Luke,” Cam Newton said. ‘His presence was missed.” Kuechly has been wearing an experimental thin neck band called the “Q-Collar,” developed by Q30 Innovations in Connecticut. According to a story in the Charlotte Observer, the idea came from the “physiology of a woodpecker, which beats its head against a tree trunk several thousand times per day but does not suffer brain damage.” It has to do with putting pressure on the jugular vein to provide a cushion for the brain. Once again: Football is a violent collision sport where injuries, whether broken ankles, torn knee ligaments or concussions, are unavoidable... Adrian Peterson’s career with the Saints: 27 carries for 81 yards and one sideline confrontation with Sean Payton. He was traded to the Cardinals last week and will start Sunday against the Bucs.