LANDOVER, Md. (AP) – They were memorable images bookending a day around the NFL that will remain memorable – for absolutely nothing at all to do with football itself.
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan locked arms with players as “The Star-Spangled Banner” was performed before the first game of the morning Sunday in London. Eleven hours later, Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder did the same before the last game of the night not too far from the White House. It was a symbolic gesture by two of the very men called upon by President Donald Trump to punish NFLers for making any sort of Colin Kaepernick-esque statement during the national anthem.
(Not to get too cynical about how these scenes were orchestrated, but both teams tweeted out images of those owners in the pregame arm-in-arm pose with the one-word caption “Unity.” Also worth keeping in mind: Kahn and Snyder were among at least seven team owners who gave money to Trump’s inauguration committee.)
Redskins cornerback Josh Norman, one of the players at Snyder’s side Sunday, told a national television audience via NBC’s broadcast of Washington’s 27-10 victory over the Oakland Raiders that it was “one demonstration I feel, just, we had to do, just because of the tyranny that we face” from Trump.
“It’s sad that we have to go through stuff like that,” Norman said, “but at the end of the day, (if) we unite as one, nobody’s going to divide us.”