Colin Kaepernick sports a large afro hairstyle and when he jogged out of the tunnel from the locker room to take the field yesterday in Orchard Park, without his helmet on, it seemed like he wanted everyone in the stadium to notice him. There was some booing and a few jeers of "traitor" with one fan near us who favoured the term "eat shit Kaepernick" which he repeated throughout the game. Just as the anthem was about to start, a cheer of "USA, USA" gained momentum but was quickly drowned out by the Star Spangled Banner singer. Kaepernick and two teammates kneeled during the anthem and several more 49ers players stood with their right fists raised and clenched in the style of the Black Panther movement which the world came to know during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. All Bills players stood in a line on their sideline during the anthem.
Kaepernick's form of protest has prompted a backlash among some football fans and others. After the game yesterday, he explained his position this way: "I don't understand what's un-American about fighting for liberty and justice for everybody, for the equality that this country stands for. I see it as very patriotic and American." I have read reports this morning of t-shirts for sale outside New Era Field yesterday with Kaepernick's image in the cross-hairs of a gun scope and beer coolers with an image of Kaepernick and the words "stand up and shut up". I didn't see any of that myself. Inside the stadium and after the game began, what I saw was a quarterback in his first start of the season who showed only a fraction of the kind of player he was in 2012 when he led his team to the Superbowl.
The Bills ran for 312 yards yesterday (their best running performance since 1992) and, as was reported on Twitter by Football Perspective, they have racked up 847 yards over the past four weeks, marking the highest total for any team in weeks 3 through 6 in the NFL since 1981 and the 5th most since 1970. Most football coaches will say that, if given the choice, they would almost always choose to run the ball; it's more conservative, less likely to lead to turnovers, more likely to keep the game clock running and, when successful, is quite demoralizing for the opposing defense. Marv Levy always said that to win in the NFL, a team need only do two things: run the ball and stop the run. The Bills obviously accomplished the running part yesterday and, while allowing Kaepernick to rush for team leading 66 yards on the day, the defense held the 49ers running backs to only 67 yards on the ground.
49ers coach Chip Kelly favours a "hurry-up" type of offense with either no huddles between plays or very brief huddles. The strategy is meant to tire out the defense and limit its ability to substitute in changing down and distance situations. The Bills defense seemed well prepared for this and, until the game was well in hand, their offense frequently used the same strategy yesterday. And they were able to run the ball at will with strong offensive line play and the the brilliance of LeSean McCoy. It was a dominating performance which allowed us to leave the stadium early and beat the traffic. I was home just after 6.30pm.
Thankfully, the third and final Presidential debate takes place on Wednesday at UNLV. Fox News Chris Wallace will be the moderator. At least Alec Baldwin will be able to get one more guest spot on SNL from it and possibly more, depending on how the final three weeks of the campaign play out. But, if Trump goes away after his expected landslide defeat, Baldwin's run will end after November 8th. Don't bet on it though. Baldwin should keep his Saturday night calendar clear for some time to come as I don't think Trump will accept defeat graciously - if at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment