Wednesday Morning QB (Week 5)
For another week the main story in the NFL was the protests on the sidelines as once again it made headline news throughout the country.
Once again the President of the United States weighed in on the controversial protests held by the players in the league.
That came when Vice President, Mike Pence attended the Indianapolis Colts-San Francisco 49ers game and left midway through.
Pence claimed that he left when many of the players on the 49ers knelt during the anthem.
That tweet was followed by a tweet from the President stating that he and Pence talked about leaving if players knelt.
It also turned out that the plan was to leave the game early regardless but with the Niners in town it was a pretty good chance of a protest.
The debate only increased from that point as the NFL players continued to give their reasons for the protest and others continued to argue against them.
Things really began to change near the end of the week of games though as the league and the owners had been squarely behind the players, or maybe slightly askew from them.
They claimed that it was the right of the players to protest and have their voice heard and many stayed out of the debate about whether or not they agreed with the protests but claiming free speech.
During the final day of Week 5, Jerry Jones became the first owner to change his tune about the protests.
Jones claimed that he would make sure that any player who kneels and disrespects the flag would not play for the Cowboys.
Essentially, claiming that anyone of the Cowboys who chose to protest would sit on the bench.
That got a lot of praise from those who have already disagreed with the protests the entire way as many believe that the owners and coaches should have done this from the start.
Right after the Jones comment talk began to swirl around the NFL putting in a rule that would require players to stand during the anthem.
It is something that the NBA has and that the NBA has stood behind in the midst of the protests from the NFL.
The league wants to change the wording of their current rule which requires teams to be out on the field during the anthem but suggests that players face the flag and stand instead of requiring them to stand and face the flag.
That rumour was followed by a statement released by commissioner, Roger Goodell asking that players begin standing for the anthem.
The key piece of the letter being when Goodell stated: “We need to move past this controversy, and we want to do that together with our players.”
It seems clear that this set of events has officially put the players on an island all by themselves as the league is no longer willing to go along with the protests.
In all likelihood, they heard the concerns from the fans and made a decision to go against the players and with their fans.
It has been a theme for a long time as the commissioner and the league have been creating a divide between themselves and the players.
This is a major issue and for many, the league was standing behind their players for the first time in a long time.
With these new moves, the league is only creating a bigger divide between the NFL brass and the players.
It is also a divide between a group of mainly white owners and a group of mainly black players for an issue that has everything to do with race and racism in the USA.
The entire protest was started by Colin Kaepernick who knelt to protest police brutality against young black men.
The protests have followed a pattern as the majority of players protesting, and really the majority of players in the NFL, are African American.
The majority of people who are against the protests, and the majority of NFL fans in general, tend to be white.
This divide says something serious about the protests and when a white commissioner steps up and tells them to stop and “move on” it is sure not to be taken well.
The league may be taking steps towards attempting to stop the protests altogether but what they might be doing is uniting the players against the league.
It doesn’t take much of a push for the players as they have already seen the divide grow every year.
The league has continued to create controversy with suspensions that to some are arbitrary and a refusal to allow the players to express their personality.
This move will only further the divide and could make a massive difference when the Collective Bargaining Agreement ends in 2020.
If the league continues on their current path expect more resistance and some players pushing the owners and the league to make an example out of them.
It will also create an interesting debate as the CBA begins to close out and an almost certain strike situation for the 2021 season.
Fifth Quarter
New York Sinking
The New York Giants have not had the season they were hoping for going the first five weeks without a single win. It seems almost sure that they will miss the playoffs this year after their 0-5 start and things got only worse this week. The Giants have always relied on Odell Beckham Jr. as a major part of their offence but an injury has slowed him down all year. That injury got much worse as his injured ankle turned into an ankle fracture ending his season and removing the most explosive player from a struggling offence.
Kicking the Problem
Hard Knocks followed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year in their training camp and a big part of the show was the battle at kicker. Both Nick Folk and second-round pick Roberto Aguayo struggled throughout the camp. The battle ended with the most accurate NCAA kicker ever being cut from the team after lacking consistency. Their choice for kicker didn’t turn out to be great though as Folk struggled throughout the year including Thursday when he went 0-for-3 in a game separated by five points leading the team to sign Patrick Murray to take over.
Controversy Follows Dolphins
Things got very strange in Miami this week when a video surfaced of offensive line coach Chris Foerster snorting a white substance in his office. Nobody really knew what was happening or why this video came to surface but things became clear soon. It was later revealed that a Las Vegas model that Foerster was involved with had released the video as an apparent statement about the protests in the NFL. In her statement, she said that the hypocrisy in the league would be shown with her revealing this video. Foerster resigned his position after the video surfaced ending his time in Miami before the controversy got bigger.
Heading to the Desert
Adrian Peterson was once one of the most dominant running backs in the league but his time in Minnesota came to an end last year. He looked to prove that he still had it in New Orleans signing in the off-season with the Saints but has rarely been used on the offence. Clearly not happy with his new role the Saints traded Paterson to the Arizona Cardinals. There he will get every chance to be that dominant back again as their top back, David Johnson went down in week 1. This will be Peterson’s running game from now until the end of the season and what he does will determine if his career is still alive.
The Sport Addiction 