Texans kneel in protest of owner

All but 10 members of the Houston Texans took a knee during the national anthem Sunday, as the vast majority of the team protested the owner’s “inmates running the prison” comment.

The Texans had indicated there would be some type of protest after the comments by owner Bob McNair.

McNair issued two apologies attempting to explain his comments after a story in ESPN The Magazine revealed that he said “we can’t have the inmates running the prison” during a meeting of NFL owners about players protests.

The entire team took the field about 10 minutes before kickoff. When the anthem started the majority of the active roster (approximately 43 players) took a knee.

It appeared that all of the black players on Houston’s roster took a knee, while at least one white player — Ben Heeney — also knelt.

More Texans

DeShaun Watson threw four more touchdown passes, giving him an NFL record 19 through his first seven career games. That’s one more than Kurt Warner had in 1999 with the then-St. Louis Rams. But the Texans lost a shootout 41-38 to Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks, who sealed the win on Richard Sherman’s interception of Watson.

Bears

Rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky thought he had floated a 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Zach Miller and taken a sizeable chunk out of a New Orleans’ 14-3 lead. Instead, the Bears were hit with a double-whammy they could not overcome — a serious knee injury to a team leader and a replay reversal with which they disagreed. Miller dislocated his knee when he landed in the end zone . The gruesome injury forced the 33-year-old tight end to be carted off and taken to a local hospital. After a replay review, officials ruled the ball hit the ground when Miller bobbled it on his way down. “He made a heck of a catch. It was a great effort on his part,” said Trubisky, whose team then settled for a field goal. “The call was what it was, but it was an awesome play on his part.” The kick made the score 14-6 with 5:42 left in the third quarter. The Bears spent the final 20 minutes trying to get past the disturbing injury and catch up to the Saints, losing 20-12.