A group of four players sent the NFL a memo in August requesting league support and asking for a month to be dedicated to social activism, not long after commissioner Roger Goodell reportedly had talked to several players regarding their game-day activism efforts.
According to Yahoo! Sports, defensive end Michael Bennett of the Seattle Seahawks, Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins and receiver Torrey Smith, and former Arizona Cardinals wideout Anquan Boldin co-authored the 2,740-word document intended to push the NFL into efforts “similarly to what the league already implements for breast cancer awareness, honoring military, etc.”
The letter was obtained by Yahoo! Sports and originally published on Wednesday night.
The head of the union representing Las Vegas police alleged Michael Bennett made false accusations and asked the NFL to investigate. The league won’t, saying there are no grounds to do so.
Justin Britt, who is white, put his arm on Michael Bennett’s shoulder as Bennett sat during the national anthem on Friday night. Bennett had called for a white player to join the protest that seeks to call attention to social injustice.
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“We would like November to serve as a month of Unity for individual teams to engage and impact the community in their market,” the memo states.
The letter followed closely after Goodell spoke directly with several players who had protested on game day before the regular season kicked off, the Yahoo! report stated, citing two sources.
“For us, support means: bear all or part of the weight of; hold up; give assistance to, especially financially; enable to function or act. We need support, collaboration and partnerships to achieve our goal of strengthening the community,” the letter stated.
The league declined to comment when asked about the memo, Yahoo! Sports reported. Bennett, Jenkins, Smith and Boldin either didn’t return requests for comment to Yahoo! or declined to discuss it, citing an agreement to keep talks private, according to the website.
Boldin retired in late August, two weeks after signing a one-year deal with the Buffalo Bills. He said in a statement he felt “drawn to make the larger fight for human rights a priority. My life’s purpose is bigger than football.”
Earlier this month, the NFL affirmed it had no plans to investigate Bennett’s behavior during an August incident in which he was detained and handcuffed by police in Las Vegas.
The league was responding to a letter Goodell had received from the president of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, the union that represents the police in that city. In the letter, the union alleged that Bennett made false accusations against Las Vegas police and asked the league to “conduct an investigation, and take appropriate action.”
Bennett, who accused the Las Vegas police of unfairly targeting him and pointing a gun at his head, sat on the bench during the national anthem for a Seahawks preseason game on Aug. 13 and said at the time, “I can’t stand right now. I’m not going to be standing until I see the equality and freedom.”
Six teams had head-coaching changes heading into the 2017 season. And after two games, five teams could be headed for head-coaching changes in 2018. Just how hot are the coaching seats in New Orleans, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York and Indianapolis? Our NFL Nation reporters break it down.
Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire
Career record: 128-114 (9-25 in Chicago) Playoff record: 8-7
Analysis: Fox is in trouble. The Bears — 0-2 for the third consecutive season — have Pittsburgh and Green Bay up next on their schedule. The Bears realistically could be 0-4 after the first quarter of the season, and if that happens (as many expect), Chicago would have almost no shot of reaching the playoffs. The Bears brought Fox to Chicago to build a winner and that hasn’t come close to happening. Player health has been a major problem during the Fox era. The Bears entered Week 2 with three starters already on injured reserve, and three more starters left Sunday’s loss to Tampa Bay and did not return. It’s hard to picture this getting any better for Fox or the Bears. — Jeff Dickerson
Career record: 118-105-3 Playoff record: 0-7
Analysis: Lewis is entering the final season of his contract after he and the front office couldn’t come to terms on a new deal. Things have gotten off to a terrible start this season, with the Bengals falling to 0-2 and firing offensive coordinator Ken Zampese. They have yet to score a touchdown. Prior to the season, Lewis said, “[Owner Mike Brown] and I have a great working relationship. Sometimes you don’t want to start that over again, but sometimes you need to. And I’m prepared to do that. It doesn’t affect me one way or another.” If the Bengals can’t climb out of this hole, it’s very possible it could be Lewis’ last season in Cincinnati. While Lewis has been the Bengals’ most successful coach in franchise history, his 0-7 record in the playoffs has been like a cloud over his coaching career. They took a step backward last season by missing the playoffs and have shown regression instead of improvement since the 2015 season. The Bengals need to at least show they’re heading in the right direction this year for Lewis to merit a new deal. Right now, the angry fan base and rudderless team say otherwise. — Katherine Terrell
Analysis: Bowles is in a weird — and precarious — position. Third-year coaches often find themselves in playoffs-or-bust situations, but that’s not the case with Bowles. The 0-2 Jets are in the first year of a full-blown rebuild, with ownership saying there’s no playoff mandate for Bowles. They have one of the worst rosters in the league, so it would be ridiculous to hold him to that standard. He will be evaluated on how the team progresses throughout the season, according to ownership. If the team remains competitive, develops its young players and stays unified, Bowles will have a good chance to return in 2018. But he needs to win some games — anything worse than 4-12 would be tough to stomach. — Rich Cimini
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — As he marched onto the MetLife Stadium field Monday night, Tom Coughlin did not come across like a man one day removed from losing a football game by three touchdowns. The overlord of the Jacksonville Jaguars had two good reasons to project the radiant, puffed-chest vibe of someone who had just won the Super Bowl:
1. He would hold the Lombardi Trophy in his hands during a halftime ceremony honoring the 10-year anniversary of his New York Giants’ epic victory over the 18-0 New England Patriots.
2. He would watch live as the former assistant who replaced him, Ben McAdoo, coached like a hopeless rookie at the start of his sophomore year.
Giants coach Ben McAdoo, asked what happened during a key fourth-and-goal play at the Lions’ 2-yard line in which New York took a delay of game penalty and had to kick a field goal, called it simply “sloppy quarterback play.”
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Coughlin isn’t enthusiastically rooting for McAdoo to lose the way the New York Giants coach lost the home opener to the Detroit Lions by a 24-10 count. But people who know the 71-year-old Jaguars executive say he was more devastated than he publicly let on when he was forced out after the 2015 season. Coughlin is human, and it’s perfectly human for a two-time Super Bowl champ separated from a job he adored to hope his successor reminds everyone why he was so valuable in the first place.
On that front, McAdoo is making Coughlin more popular with New Yorkers now than he was during his final four playoff-free seasons.
“Put this game on me,” the Giants coach told his players in the locker room.
“Put this game on me,” the Giants coach told the reporters in the interview room.
Actually, we’ll do McAdoo one better. We’ll put the entire 0-2 start on him, even though the hobbled Odell Beckham Jr. couldn’t go against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1 and couldn’t rise even halfway to his otherworldly standards against the Lions on Monday night. The Giants have scored 13 points in eight quarters of play; they haven’t scored fewer points in their first two games since they managed seven points in the first two games of 1947, when you could buy a gallon of gas for 15 cents.
So far, McAdoo’s offense is worth less than that in 2017.
The coach asked for the blame Monday night, but then he placed full culpability for the fourth-and-goal, delay-of-game flag squarely on Eli Manning’s shoulder pads.
“Sloppy quarterback play,” McAdoo said of the penalty that turned a touchdown attempt into a field goal. Although Manning later admitted that the quarterback is always at fault on delay-of-game calls, McAdoo didn’t need to fire that spiral into the back of a two-time Super Bowl MVP who is usually among the league leaders in all accountability metrics.
Bottom line: McAdoo did not have his team ready to start the season. Cast as credible contenders, the Giants were outclassed by the Cowboys on the road last week and by the Lions at home on Monday. They have the same record as their tanking co-tenants, the New York Jets, and they’re the only team in the NFC East that isn’t 1-1.
“We talk about playing complete, complementary football,” McAdoo said. “By no stretch of the imagination did we get that done tonight.”
Giants head coach Ben McAdoo reacts after failing to convert a fourth down against the Lions during the fourth quarter of Monday night’s loss. Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports
Left tackle Ereck Flowers was regularly steamrollered by Ezekiel Ansah, who was responsible for three of Detroit’s five sacks. The Giants’ running backs managed a grand total of 62 yards after opening with 35 against Dallas, leaving them one fullback dive short of 100 for the year. Fans booed McAdoo’s decision to run the ball on third-and-13 on the Giants’ opening series and booed again throughout the night. The one time the coach and the crowd were in agreement — on McAdoo’s choice to go for it on fourth down at the 2 — Manning’s apparent preoccupation with a potential blitz pickup rained on the parade as the play clock bled to zero.
“I’ve got to call a timeout or get it snapped,” the quarterback said.
At 36 years old and trying to get by without a healthy Beckham, a productive running game and a functioning line, Manning has looked like a shadow of his former self. But until he plays a full season at this level, Manning has earned the benefit of the doubt. He did once win a championship after an 0-2 start, with the same 2007 Giants who were honored at halftime.
“The defense is playing tough,” Manning said. “The offense has got to do our part. We’ve got to make the plays, and we’ve got to handle our part of the equation to fix this.”
When asked earlier how the offense can be fixed, Manning said, “We’ve just got to figure out what’s our best personnel, what’s our best style, how we’re going to be able to move the ball.”
That sounds like McAdoo’s job, and nobody knows if he’s capable of doing it. He was never a head coach on any level — high school included — before taking over the Giants. Upon arriving in New York as offensive coordinator in 2014, McAdoo’s claim to fame was serving as Aaron Rodgers’ quarterbacks coach in Green Bay. Of course, being Aaron Rodgers’ quarterbacks coach would’ve been a little like being Luciano Pavarotti’s vocals coach. There are only so many ways to screw that up.
Right now, McAdoo is running a McAdon’t offense that is almost impossible to watch. The Giants have failed to score 20 points in eight consecutive games. They’ve failed to score 30 points in any game with McAdoo as head coach.
“The whole offense needs work,” he conceded. “We’re not in rhythm right now. … We have to analyze everything we’re doing. I mean, we can’t pull points out of a hat.”
McAdoo said he will consider personnel changes. Asked if he will consider surrendering his playcalling responsibilities, McAdoo said, “We’ll consider everything. Yep.”
His time for considering is up. McAdoo needs to come out from behind his ever-conspicuous chart, hand over the playcalling to offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan and focus on the big-picture issues weighing down his team. He needs to be less of a system operator and much more of a motivator and manager.
He has already compromised this year’s long-term goals of a deep playoff run and of perhaps winning a title for the first time since Coughlin won his second after the 2011 season. The Giants face three of their next four games on the road against Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Denver. If McAdoo doesn’t grab hold of his team sooner rather than later, he won’t have to bother asking people to assign him the blame.
OAKLAND — Marshawn Lynch got hyphy on the sideline, the Oakland native dancing and celebrating his homecoming and a big Raiders lead with more than 12 minutes to play Sunday. It only got better from there for the Raiders in a 45-20 victory over their old AFL rivals, the New York Jets, with Lynch scoring his first touchdown since 2015 and receiver Michael Crabtree tying a career best with three TD catches.
What it means: The Raiders are 2-0 for the first time since 2002, when they started out 4-0 en route to a Super Bowl appearance. They also served notice to the rest of the NFL that they are, indeed, a force to be reckoned with this season. Because, sure, Oakland was a two-touchdown favorite over the woebegone Jets, but the Raiders again excelled in all three phases of the game — Lynch, Crabtree, the offensive line and quarterback Derek Carr doing their thing, the defense stifling the Jets and gunner Johnny Holton forcing and recovering a muffed punt when the Raiders needed a spark.
What I liked: The Raiders brought the heat to Jets quarterback Josh McCown, sacking him four times. Mario Edwards Jr. had 1.5 sacks, giving him two in two games, and reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Khalil Mack had a devastating “full eclipse” sack in the third quarter, the All-Pro edge rusher seemingly stripping the ball from the Jets quarterback mid-sack. Alas, McCown was ruled down. The Raiders, who had a league-low 25 sacks last season without a single sack coming from a defensive back, also blitzed strong safety Karl Joseph, who recovered a fumble he caused. Denico Autry shared a sack with Edwards.
What I didn’t like: The preponderance of flags thrown at the Raiders, who had four personal fouls in the first half alone and finished with nine penalties for 79 yards. Bruce Irvin’s slam tackle of Matt Forte jump-started the Jets after the Raiders jumped to a 14-0 lead, and New York closed to within 14-10 shortly thereafter. The Raiders led the NFL in flags (181), penalties accepted against (155) and penalty yardage (1,310) last season. Still, they had only five penalties in the season opener last week at Tennessee.
Fantasy fallout: If you started Crabtree as a receiver, you are grinning larger than maybe even he was after each of his three TD catches, from 2, 26 and 1 yards. It was the second time in his career he caught three touchdowns passes in a game; he also had three against the Baltimore Ravens on Oct. 2 last year.
Gareon Conley’s debut: The Raiders’ first-round pick did not start; he entered the game in Oakland’s nickel defense as the right outside cornerback as starter TJ Carrie slid inside. Conley showed some volleyball skills in breaking up a long ball down the left sideline, timing his leap perfectly and essentially spiking the ball toward an oncoming Reggie Nelson, but hit it too hard.
What’s next: The Raiders travel across the country for a Sunday night prime-time game at Washington. Oakland leads the all-time series 7-5, though Washington has won the past two meetings, both in Oakland. The Raiders won 16-13 at Washington in 2005, Norv Turner’s final win as Raiders coach.
