Roger Goodell said Wednesday in New York that he would like all players to stand for the national anthem. Seahawks DE Michael Bennett said in Renton that he will disappoint the NFL commissioner.
“I plan on sitting down,” he said his weekly podium turn at Seahawks HQ. “Like I’ll continue to do what I’ve been doing and the consequences are the consequences.”
But Goodell proposed no consequences for sitting, unlike one of his bosses. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones last week threatened to bench any Dallas player who protested. Bennett had a pointed thought for Jones.
“I think it’s crazy,” Bennett said. “It’s inconsiderate of a person being a human being. It reminded me of the Dred Scott case. You are property, so you don’t have the ability to be a person first. In this generation, I think that sends the wrong message to young people all across the world, that your employer doesn’t see you as a human being; they see you as a piece of property.
“If that’s the case, then I don’t get it. I just don’t get why you don’t see them as a human being and don’t see us as human beings first.”
Bennett also offered up another provocative thought. Before NFL players talk further with club owners about addressing social injustice in a meaningful way, unemployed QB Colin Kaepernick needs to get a chance to play in the NFL. It was Kaepernick who began the protests at the start of the 2016 season by sitting during the national anthem.
“I think before we even negotiate anything — should we sit or should we stand — there should be a negotiation about opening up the doors for Colin Kaepernick and giving him the opportunity again,” he said. “That’s been lost. I feel like all of us are having the opportunities to speak to our employers, but then to think about the guy who started everything not to be able to have a voice at this moment, it just doesn’t seem very right to me.”
The NFL is highly unlikely to require a team to hire Kaepernick, for all the obvious reasons. Just as obviously, players such as Bennett and teammate Richard Sherman believe the former 49ers star is being blacklisted. In the off-season, the Seahawks were the only team to interview him. Nothing came of it, coach Pete Carroll indicating he thought Kaepernick wanted a chance to start.
“If you look at the quarterbacks playing in the NFL right now, among the backups, I can’t name one better than him,” Bennett said. “If it can happen to one of our own, how can we fight for what we want? We need to protect the people who play next to us. That’s something we need to make sure we get across to the owners.
“A guy who brought it up can’t get sacrificed and not be able to have the opportunity to play again.”
By the way, a football game looms Sunday in New Jersey between the 1-5 Giants and the 3-2 Seahawks, a five-point favorite. Despite a plantar fascia (heel) injury to his right foot in the 16-10 win over the Rams, Bennett says he plans to power through the pain.
“As many years as I’ve played in the NFL, you deal with pain as you go through,” he said. “It’s just being able to focus on the game and not too much worry about it, because once you make that decision to play, then you have to play through it.”
Carroll: Avril headed to injured reserve list; perhaps retirement?
Cliff Avril is headed to the injured reserve list, according to coach Pete Carroll, as the defensive end considers retirement after an Oct. 1 neck injury against the Colts that has kept him out since.
During an interview on Sirius XM radio, Carroll said Avril will go on IR while “seeing a bunch of doctors, seriously looking at a big decision.”
The injured reserve list requires a player to remain out for eight weeks. That could mean a return in the regular season. But the nature of the stinger injury, which caused his hands to temporarily go numb after a kick in the chin snapped back his head, and his age (31), suggest that the threat of further injury may be too great.
Defensive coordinator Kris Richard, who had good results from DE Frank Clark’s start in Avril’s place — a sack, three tackles and a fumble caused against the Rams — is eager to have Avril with the team in any capacity.
“There isn’t anything concrete or in stone that has been settled,” he said. “If we get him, man, that will certainly be awesome; that’s a huge piece to our puzzle. If not, we have to make sure we really carry on what he and others have started.
“The standard is there. The guys understand it. He’s going to be in the room, he’s not going to abandon us. We just have to make sure to utilize him for all that he has – all the experience, all the knowledge.”
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2236028 https://sportspressnw.wpengine.com/?p=2236028">22 Comments
The bottom line is the time and place are not yours. You are using a stage owned by the club. Do you protesting away from the football stadium. I’m having a problem feeling sorry for millionaires. For whatever reason, these reverse racists do not oppose black criminals shooting either cops or other blacks.
You bring up a good point. What right does an individual like Robert Kraft have to own the “Patriots”? Or the “Eagles”? The People of Green Bay own the Packers. Isn’t that the way it ought to be? Bennett brings up a good question, are the owners human? Is this week the time we take a stand by sitting down in support of the justice contained in the much needed reforms Mr Bennett and his fellow players request?
The owners and the players can change the rules at each collective bargaining session.
But one thing that will never happen is to let another community own a team as Green Bay does with the Packers. The owners hate the loss of control and the transparency that comes with public ownership. I don’t agree with that view. On the other hand, would you want the guy at the end of the bar, or the mayor, involved in picking the next coach?
Green Bay has a fine record as a contender over many decades..heading to the superbowl before the injury to Rogers. May still get there with Kap. Seahawks v Greenbay..now that’s football.
The time and place are not his? And why do you get to decide what Paul Allen, or the numerous owners who have made statements of support for their players, do with their companies? Maybe you should consider becoming a Cowboys fan. Jerry Jones seems to be your kind of guy.
The point of protest is always to make comfortable people uncomfortable.
If players were forbidden from protesting by the CBA, as is the case in the NBA, you might have a point.
And I doubt any of the players seek your pity.
I’m Oo over Bennett and his constant ‘victimhood’…look forward to the days when he’s an ‘Ex-Seahawk’
No sure I recall him claiming victimhood, although he didn’t care to be held at gunpoint by a cop threatening his life. But that situation was probably OK by you.
Damn right it’s ok. When there’s a shooting and cops identify someone they think is running from the scene, they draw their weapons, thats what you do you idiot. I hope if you or your family is ever threatened, you don’t call the cops. Try to talk it out with the perpetrator or buy some pepper spray you snowflake libtard
Ha, another RACIST Trump lover calling names, well I can do that too. If we are libtards your a Retard Trumpanzee. Go wave your Nazi flag somewhere else.
The bit about Cliff is a real hit to our D. Cliff just tweeted out he expects surgery which would shelf him for the season but says the plan is to get him back not retire.
That’s somber news. Cliff has been our rock in that D Line since the day he came from Detroit to help us win a SB. The guy is an amazing Human being as well as a monster football player and it would be really sad to have what he loves taken away from him so here is to a positive long recovery period to get him right again.
Cliff bleeds blue and green. Go Hawks!
Avril is one of the most impressive people the Seahawks have brought to town. It’s been a privilege to make his acquaintance. Good that you have noticed.
Thanks Art. I always loved Jimmy Zorn cuz he is a lefty like myself and always seemed to have a good cause to quietly support. Cliff is the quiet big man who says a lot with his actions. I fully agree with your comment.
I admire Bennett for doing this. Let’s not forget that he is paying a steep price: it is costing him time, reputation, and possibly money, in the form of future earnings, coaching positions, and so on. he is annoying some powerful people. But isn’t that the American way, to stand up for one’s beliefs despite the personal cost? from the patriots, to the abolitionists, to the civil rights movement to the anti-Vietnam protesters: this is how progress works. I happen to believe that there is a very real problem with police accountability in this country: the police investigate themselves, and find they did nothing wrong. If it goes to the prosecutor’s office (rare), which works closely with the police, they routinely find nothing wrong. Let’s keep the focus right there: don’t be distracted by Trump and Kraft and Jones and the anthem and the flag. Those issues are a red herring. Police accountability: that’s the issue.
Amazing that many who condemn players’ protests fail to realize that the Constitution was written by rebels, protesters and troublemakers who couldn’t stand the government’s oppression and lack of accountability.
I’m done reading this left-wing trash you spew daily. You’re an ignorant progressive Bernie crybaby, and it shows in your replies. Fuck this liberal rag #TRUMP
okay, name-calling feels good, I get that. But what about the issue we’re discussing, that progress often requires protest? what do you think about that?
Sorry, but thinking isn’t part of a Trumpanzee’s day.
Your doing a Great Job Art, Ignore the Nazi Trumpanzees.
We can only hope your done here! We don’t need more hate from Nazi Retard Trumpanzee’s. Go wave your Nazi flag somewhere else.
So a person making more than $15 million this season – to play a game – compares himself to Dred Scott and your reaction is it’s provocative?
No. It’s asinine and anybody with an ounce of perspective can see it.
So you would buy Bennett’s argument if he was making $50K? Doubtful.