Cowboys defensive end Robert Quinn returned to the team this week after serving a two-game suspension. He met with the media and was asked where he worked out, the frustration of watching the Cowboys play on television and playing against his former team this week.
He also was asked about whether he would raise his fist during the national anthem Sunday.
Quinn seemed weary of the question.
“Um, why did the protest start? Then what did you all turn it into?” Quinn said to silence from reporters. “I’m asking you. Protest started because? And what did you all media turn into? You all consider us players as one. You all media, you all turned it into . . . [I want to] use the right word. You all took the message and made it into what you all wanted to make it. Now, I could sit there and beat this over the head, beat this over the head. Again, I’m not going back writing the story. At the end of the day, y’all know what’s being done. Y’all see what’s being done about it. So whether I can sit and talk about it, I see how people move. So I’d rather me keeping myself. . . .I handle my business the way I handle it. You want to know what I’m about, you come speak to me in my personal space, not at work. And you [will] see how I really roll.”
Quinn, acquired in a trade from the Dolphins in the offseason, has raised a fist during the national anthem since 2016 when he was with the Rams. The Cowboys are one of the few teams never to have had a player protest during the national anthem.
Quinn did not raise his fist during the preseason. During training camp, he sounded as if he has made a decision not to raise his fist this season, blaming the media for turning the protests for social injustice into a “distraction.”