Cowboys’ Jones reaffirms stance
Players will pay for not standing for national anthem
To some people, kneeling before the American flag is the ultimate sign of respect.
And the perfect way to express a protest.
“I do understand it,” Jerry Jones insisted to USA TODAY Sports on Monday afternoon as he sat in his plush office at the Dallas Cowboys headquarters. “Too many of the fans of the Dallas Cowboys perceive this as disrespect for the flag. And so I don’t want our team doing it.”
This was a day after the Cowboys owner made his strongest statement yet about the protests in the NFL, declaring that if any player doesn’t stand for the anthem he won’t play for his team.
Since his comments went viral, Jones maintained that he’s received “a lot of calls, and not necessarily the kind of calls that were supportive” of his position.
But he won’t budge. That’s too bad, because the optics when combined with his words — all while not a single Cowboys player has ever taken a knee during the national anthem — are a turnoff to another segment of the fan base that Jones is seemingly willing to
risk losing.
“I’m not in the business of 5149,” he said. “That’s not what we’re about. I’m removing the politics. I’m removing everything from this. What I have the right to say is who’s on that football field.”
This protest issue for the NFL — which began last year when then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick initially sat, then kneeled during the national anthem to denounce police brutality against African Americans, social injustice and racial inequality — had largely quieted until Donald Trump, during a campaign rally last month, profanely attacked NFL players who protested.
Now it’s getting uglier by the week, and Jones, on the heels of the grandstanding act of Vice President Mike Pence walking out of a game in Indianapolis on Sunday when several 49ers knelt during the anthem, has added fresh fuel to the debate.
“As the leader of the Cowboys, because of the political aspect of yesterday, I wanted for all of us to draw a very bright line so that we all could understand the consequences,” Jones said. “That’s what that was all about.”
Although Jones tried to strike a compromise two weeks ago before a game at Arizona when he kneeled with his entire team before they stood for the anthem, he acknowledged he has been thinking for weeks what he stated out loud on Sunday — when two Cowboys defensive linemen, David Irving and Damontre Moore, raised fists as the anthem concluded.
Why choose Sunday to express himself ?
“Because why? We had that particular uptick with the vice president,” Jones said.
Asked about the demonstrations of Irving and Moore, Jones said he was unclear of the specifics and had yet to collect the relevant facts.
“Did they do it during the anthem?” he said. “Certainly, if that happened during the anthem, we’d have a problem, according to my definition of respecting the flag.”
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the players were seen raising their fists as the anthem ended — but beyond ac-
“I feel so strongly that we should not use our workplace to create the controversy regarding the flag.” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones
knowledging their actions, they wouldn’t elaborate on their reasons for protesting.
Jones, who maintained on Sunday that he wouldn’t be interested in signing Kaepernick, insisted on Monday that he’s sensitive to the social issues that have moved many players to protest.
“I’m the same Jerry that knelt in Arizona,” he said.
If a player took a knee during a moment before the anthem — as the entire team did in Arizona — Jones said he wouldn’t prevent that player from playing.
Still, he separates that from not standing — or protesting otherwise — during the anthem.
“If they came in before the game and said that’s what they’re going to do, they won’t be active,” Jones said.
A more difficult dilemma would be if a player protests unannounced and the Cowboys were confronted with a decision just before kickoff.
“They won’t play,” Jones insisted. “Now if they’re active and they’re up, it would tear our butt up.”
Jones has heard the arguments from many — including DeMaurice Smith, the NFL Players Association executive director — that edicts preventing protests invades the constitutional rights of players.
He draws another line in the sand.
“Yesterday was simply my role for this franchise and frankly, as one of 32 owners in the league, to say I feel so strongly that we should not use our workplace to create the controversy regarding the flag,” Jones said. “So I look at that as a workplace issue.”
You can say that again. The NFL has some serious workplace issues.