Owner a bit Blue but
Donald Trump won’t take a knee. He keeps attacking the NFL on the stand up/kneel down national anthem controversy. “I’m shocked,” Giants owner John Mara said with a smile Wednesday. Even prior to Wednesday’s owners meeting in Battery Park City, when it became clear the NFL would not change its anthem policy to force players to stand, Trump went after the league again.
“The NFL has decided that it will not force players to stand for the National Anthem. Total disrespect for our great country!” Trump tweeted.
The anthem issue had just about quieted down before Trump reignited it when he issued his “son of a bitch” comment last month referring to any NFL anthem protesters. It was the spark that caused the owners and players to unite in trying to implement social change while denouncing the president’s insane comment.
Reaction to the Wednesday morning tweet?
“I don’t have any reaction to that,” Mara said. “I think we’re all aware that is going to continue but we can’t allow ourselves to get baited by that. We are going to do what we think is right.”
Baited by the president? That’s a pretty damning but accurate comment.
Then, later in the day, after the league officially announced it will not change its anthem policy and thus will not force players to stand, Trump tweeted: “@NFL: Too much talk, not enough action. Stand for the National Anthem.”
One would think Trump had more important issues on his presidential plate, but apparently the tweeter-in-chief does not. Goodell said he’s not had any conversation with Trump regarding the anthem but objected to Trump’s characterization of his league. “We respect our country, we respect our flag and we respect our national anthem,” Goodell said.
Even though the national anthem controversy is costing the league lots of money and fans — hemorrhaging, perhaps — and even though Goodell wants players to stand and Mara strongly said he wants his players to stand, the NFL is deferring to the players.
Jerry Jones of the Cowboys is the only owner who has said he will punish any of his players who take a knee by refusing to let him play. Jones is an American hero to Trump.
Jones knows kneeling is bad for business. Even before he threatened his players following Dallas’ last game, none of the Cowboys have taken a knee since Colin Kaepernick was the first to do so in the summer of 2016.
Goodell said the number of kneeling protesters is now about “a half dozen. We’re hoping to continue to try and work and get that to zero.”
Although Jones spoke extensively at the meetings about his position on the anthem, he did not elaborate on his decision to discipline his players if they don’t stand. The NFL policy is players “should” stand for the anthem but Jones has made it mandatory.
What will Goodell do if Jones refuses to let a player on the field if he kneels?
“I can’t deal with hypotheticals,” Goodell said. “We’ll deal with those issues as they come up. We want our players to stand and we’re going to continue to encourage them to stand.”
Mara addressed the issue for the first time since Olivier Vernon, Snacks Harrison and Landon Collins became the first Giants to kneel in Week 3 in Philadelphia. Only Vernon is still kneeling but Mara is not going to mandate that any player stands.
Mara was one of 11 owners to meet with 13 players Tuesday. Although there was some discussion in the owners’ meeting Wednesday about changing the policy so players would be required to stand, it was not put to a vote. Even if it was, there was no indication that Jones’ position would have had anywhere near the 24 votes it would need to pass.
Jones did not speak with the media Wednesday but Mara said he didn’t see any reason for a change in policy. “Most of us believe that attempting to force the players to do something that they don’t want to do is not going to be effective in the long run,” Mara said.
Mara had said in the offseason that fans had told him they would not attend any more games if any of his players followed Colin Kaepernick’s lead by not standing. Although Mara’s position on the anthem kneeling has softened, many of the fans he hears from remain angry about the protests. What does he say when he writes back? “I respond to them by saying, “Look, I prefer our players stand, I’ve asked our players to stand. I think we’re down to one player that has continued to kneel. At the end of the day, this is America and we do have something called the First Amendment, the right of free speech and the right to protest is one of the things our forefathers fought and died for. That continues to be a principle that is very important to most of us.”
Mara seems willing to ride out the negative hit this has caused on team and league business in exchange for working with the players to make positive social changes and allowing them to continue to kneel.
“No question it has an impact, but it’s an important social issue and I think sometimes you have to put the interest of your business behind the interest of issues that are more important than that,” he said.
Maybe he should tweet that @realDonaldTrump. to REUTERS
John Mara didn’t sound like he was putting Jerry Reese and Ben McAdoo on notice even though the Giants are the biggest flop of the season and he and Steve Tisch “bitch and moan” about what’s been going on.
“I’m very disappointed,” Mara said at the NFL owners meeting in Battery Park City on Wednesday. “We’re 1-5. How could I possibly feel good about that?”
As a result, has his support in Ben and Jerry wavered?
“No,” he said. “I support both of them. You have to. It’s hard enough to win in this league. If the general manager and the head coach don’t have the support of ownership, it makes it almost impossible.”
Mara clarified remarks made by Tisch one day earlier and made it clear neither of them had anything to do with McAdoo’s decision to relinquish the play-calling last week in Denver. He said Reese “probably had that discussion with him, but even Jerry would not and did not tell him that he had to give up the play calling duties. That has to be the head coach’s decision.”
Mara and Tisch did discuss it with each other.
“Steve and I have talked about that,” he said. “We talk about the games and what goes on. We bitch and moan to one another but neither one of us spoke to the coach about giving up the play calling.”
McAdoo made it through a tough time last week with the Dominique RodgersCromartie suspension and assorted brush fires that accompany a then-winless team.
Did he show Mara something the way he handled things?
“It showed me we are 1-5 instead of 0-6,” he said. “The players played hard on Sunday night. Our defense played the way I thought they were going to play all year. It’s a step in the right direction but it’s just one step.”
He knows the fans are criticizing Reese and McAdoo and acknowledges he hears what they have to say but he’s focused on the season. Still, Mara wasn’t ready to declare the victory in Denver a defining moment for McAdoo.