Message delivered, but no win
SOCIAL PROTEST: Kaepernick more impressive off field than quarterbacking a loss John Kryk
NORCHARD PARK, N.Y. ever mind, for a moment, the Buffalo Bills and their burgeoning offence that grounds, pounds and now routinely astounds — especially when resurgent running back LeSean McCoy gets his hands on the ball.
If the most resonant take-away from one of the happiest days here this decade is that the 4-2 Bills have clawed back from the precipice to set themselves up for a legitimate chance at their first playoff berth in 17 years, perhaps the most lasting, big-picture take-away had little to do with football.
That is, shortly after the Bills won their fourth straight game Sunday with a 45-16 steamrolling of the visiting San Francisco 49ers, opposing quarterback Colin Kaepernick coolly explained why his now-famous pre-game social protest continues.
And why it does not make him un-American, despite the reverberating chant of “USA! USA! USA!” that echoed so loudly around this 43-year-old stadium while an Armed Forces colour guard walked a ceremonial U.S. flag to midfield — a not-so-impromptu, pre-emptive protesting of Kap’s protest.
As you’re undoubtedly aware, since pre-season games in August the sixth-year passer has protested racially motivated social injustices in America by taking a knee during the pre-game playing of the U.S. national anthem.
Kaepernick was joined again on Sunday in his kneeldown by teammates Eli Harold, a linebacker, and Eric Reid, a safety. Other 49ers players, including at least one who did not dress, stood at attention while raising a fist.
The Niners quarterback took reporters’ questions Sunday the same way he regrettably took on Bills tacklers a few too many times in his return to San Francisco’s starting lineup — straight on.
When I asked the 28-year-old if some Bills fans who enthusiastically chanted, “USA!” were suggesting his protest is un-American, Kaepernick answered:
“I don’t understand what’s un-American about fighting for liberty and justice for everybody, for the equality that this country says it stands for. To me, I see it as very patriotic and American to uphold the United States to the standards that it says it lives by. That’s something that needs to be addressed.”
Kaepernick and now countless other Americans this autumn are shedding light on racial injustices, such as a series of police shootings of unarmed African-Americans, which in turn spawned retaliatory violence against police.
“Until (we) as people recognize and address that some of us have privileges and some of us don’t, and some of us are able to do certain things without consequences, and others of us can’t,” things won’t change, Kaepernick suggested.
During the game, against a punishing Bills defence, Kaepernick often flailed. As had been his forte during his first starting stint in San Fran — from mid-2012 through mid-2015 — Kap often proved more dangerous as a runner than passer. He completed just 13-of-29 passes for 187 yards, a big chunk of which came on the Niners’ only touchdown — a 53-yard strike to Torrey Smith on a blown deep coverage by the Bills secondary.
Kaepernick gained 66 yards running, mostly on scrambles, and otherwise proved his career renaissance is a work in progress, at best.
Now that the Niners’ season is effectively toast — they’ve lost five straight, to fall to 1-5 — and now that Kaepernick’s long-anticipated return to the starting lineup is past, his protests presumably won’t be so newsworthy.
Kaepernick implied he doesn’t get many death threats anymore. Asked about a report that said someone threw a bottle at him earlier Sunday, Kaepernick quipped, “If they did, they didn’t have very good aim.”
On the field, neither did Kaepernick. Off the field after the game? A Bull’s-eye, even if you disagree with his manner of protesting.