Steelers OL feels bad he broke ranks
Villanueva standing alone in tunnel was done by accident
When Alejandro Villanueva enrolled at West Point more than a decade ago, it became incumbent upon him to salute the American flag and stand at attention during The Star-Spangled Banner, a practice he continued once he became a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army and a member of the elite Rangers.
However, after a tumultuous NFL Sunday that featured teams and players across the league reacting to President Trump’s profane comments directed at those who protest during the national anthem, Villanueva felt compelled to apologize to his Pittsburgh Steelers teammates – none of whom took the field for the anthem prior to Sunday’s game in Chicago – after he alone stood outside the team tunnel at Soldier Field and stood with his hand over his heart.
“This national anthem ordeal
has sort of been out of control, and there’s a lot of blame on myself,” Villanueva, Pittsburgh’s starting left tackle, told reports in Pittsburgh on Monday. “I made coach (Mike) Tomlin look bad, and that is my fault and my fault only. I made my teammates look bad, and that is my fault.”
Tomlin told CBS prior to kickoff that the team would not take the field for the anthem in order to remain unified despite dis- parate opinions on Trump and the practice of silent protest prior to NFL games.
“Whatever we do we’re going to do 100%, we’re going to do together,” said Tomlin. “We’re not going to let divisive times or divisive individuals affect our agenda.”
Villanueva and his teammates indicated a day later that his presence outside the tunnel actually occurred accidentally rather than by design. He said he had wanted to see the flag before the game but was still outside when the anthem began, at which point he did not want to move. Yet he subsequently felt as if he’d broken ranks.
“Unfortunately, I threw (my teammates) under the bus, unintentionally,” he said. “Every single time I see that picture of me standing by myself, I feel embarrassed.
“We as a team tried to figure it out. Obviously we butchered it. ... I’m not gonna pretend I have some kind of righteous voice.”
National support of Villanueva, however, has swelled in the past 24 hours. He had the top-selling merchandise among any NFL player on Fanatics.com and NFLShop.com in the 24 hours after kickoff of the Steelers-Chicago Bears game, Fanatics vice president of communications Meier Raivich confirmed to USA TODAY Sports in an email. (Fanatics runs NFLShop.com.) Villanueva's No. 78 jersey was also the
“Every single time I see that picture of me standing by myself, I feel embarrassed.” Alejandro Villanueva, Steelers offensive lineman
top seller of any NFL player during the same span.
Villanueva, deployed to Afghanistan three times, said he has no issue with players who protest during the anthem and said several have thanked him for his service.
“I will support all my teammates, and all my teammates and all my coaches have always supported me,” said Villanueva, who went undrafted in 2010, when he began serving his active duty commitment after graduating from West Point. Among his honors in the service are two Bronze Stars.
The native of Meridian, Miss., joined the Steelers practice squad in 2014 and became a starter a year later.
As for his own opinion on Trump’s remarks, “I don’t have anything to say about the commander in chief and his decisions. Nothing to comment about what the president says.”