NFL teams decided to cancel their practices because of what is going on in the country.
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00:00 Obviously, the spotlight was on the NBA after its players decided not to play Wednesday,
00:04 but that was a movement that moved on to other sports as well.
00:08 But what about the NFL?
00:09 For more on that, I'm joined by the MMQB's Connor Orr and Chris Russell, who covers the
00:13 Washington football team.
00:15 Connor, let's start with you.
00:16 The timing for the NFL has been a little strange throughout the pandemic and the social justice
00:21 movement because they've been in the offseason.
00:24 How has the league and its players handled this current plight?
00:27 Well, I think it shows a little bit of a progression.
00:31 The Lions and Matt Patricia were out front of this, and they canceled a practice before
00:36 it was something that was sort of forced upon them or there was any other kind of a snowballing
00:41 of an issue.
00:42 And we saw that dating back to Brian Flores a few months ago, who was one of the first
00:46 coaches to issue a public statement in the wake of another police shooting.
00:50 And so I think that the NFL is improving in the fact that they're not just sitting around
00:54 and waiting to see which way the wind blows.
00:55 They're actually taking some actionable change here and allowing their players to utilize
01:00 a platform, even if it means canceling practice or doing something that previously they would
01:05 not have been willing to do.
01:07 And obviously, there was a 180 from Roger Goodell, of course, after some of his players
01:11 demanded that the NFL make a statement following what happened to George Floyd.
01:16 Now, Chris, when it comes to the Washington football team, they're one of the teams that
01:20 chose not to practice.
01:22 What did they explain as the reasoning for that?
01:24 Yeah, Rob and Connor, I just got, before I joined you guys, we just got off a video
01:28 conference with head coach Ron Rivera.
01:31 And he basically said after consultation with new team president Jason Wright, and then
01:35 they checked with Dan Snyder, that they canceled today's practice at FedEx Field, which was
01:40 scheduled for one o'clock Eastern to kind of simulate the regular season opener, just
01:44 because they felt it was the right thing to do, which obviously it seems absolutely appropriate
01:49 that that would be the stance that they take, and that they wanted to give their players
01:53 a chance to talk, reflect, be together, not practice, not have to worry about football,
01:59 and then take the rest of the day off, and then they'll hit it back on the practice fields
02:03 on Friday morning.
02:04 Obviously, it caused some logistical issues because the NFL is involved in some of these
02:08 stadium practices, but it sounded like, according to Rivera, everybody was on board and the
02:13 players really benefited from the sharing of ideas over what was described as about
02:19 an hour and a half meeting.
02:21 And Conor, how much do you expect this momentum to carry into the regular season?
02:26 I don't think it's slowing down.
02:27 I mean, NBA players were willing at one point to cancel the season in the middle of the
02:32 playoffs, and I think that that was a gesture that showed the ultimate relative meaninglessness
02:37 of sports when there are so many other things going on in our society.
02:41 I think somebody put it best today, and they said that sports are a reward for a functioning
02:44 society, not just a right.
02:47 It's a privilege.
02:48 And so I think players have understood that, and if things aren't going the way that they
02:53 see fit in the country and they can promote some actionable change, they're going to take
02:57 the reins.
02:58 And I think that this is going to be a historic regular season for a lot of different reasons.
03:02 I believe I first heard those words from Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle over the summer, and
03:08 they have certainly echoed true of late.
03:10 Chris, Conor, appreciate your time, as always.
03:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]