As the player protests continue, the various concerns & perspectives surrounding them have escalated as well. Yesterday, Vice President Pence made a somewhat bold statement to ensure America and all NFL viewers knows his stance in regard to the protests. Vice President Pence left Sunday’s 49ers and Colts game following the national anthem eventually taking to Twitter to announce his reasoning for leaving before the game started in which President Trump initially advised.
Following the President & Vice President’s public objection, Jerry Jones finally voiced his opinion on whether or not he approves of his players’ kneeling during the national anthem. In a statement to the Dallas Morning News Jerry quoted:
“If we are disrespecting the flag, then we won’t play. Period. Period. We’re going to respect the flag.
We cannot in the NFL, in any way, give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag. We cannot do that.
We as a team are very much on the page together, players and coaches will “under no circumstances” fail to “stand and recognize and honor the flag.
I’m saying our vice president of the United States, if in his opinion there’s disrespect of the flag, then he should express himself however he wants to. He’s got rights, too. So however he wants to do it — he felt that not standing for the flag is disrespectful. I do, too.”
America’s Team is set for a bye week next Sunday and will resume play on October 22nd against the 49ers in San Francisco. With 11 more weeks in the regular season the national anthem player protests will surely continue to shift the culture of the league resulting in extreme outcomes that will go down in history in the years to come. Whether those outcomes are positive or negative, only time will tell.
