The Eagles had an idea for sending a different kind of message before Sunday’s opener at Washington. The Washington Football Team, however, wasn’t interested in participating.
Via EJ Smith of the Philadelphia Inquirer, defensive lineman Malik Jackson said that the Eagles wanted both teams to kneel in unison immediately before the opening kickoff, but that Washington’s players didn’t want to do it.
“We wanted to do the whole Premier League [thing], when they take a knee before they kick the ball off for 20 or 40 seconds,” Jackson said. “That’s what we wanted to do before the kickoff, both teams take a knee, and then decline the penalty and kick the ball off.”
Instead of taking a knee before kickoff, the two teams stood at the middle of the field with locked arms during the playing of Life Every Voice and Sing. The Eagles returned to the locker room for the national anthem, and Washington stood on the sideline.
In talking to reporters on Wednesday, Jackson also called on NFL owners -- all of them not just some of them -- to do something about social justice instead of “hiding behind the shield.”
What Jackson did on Wednesday was to wear a “Make America Great Again” hat with “Great Again” crossed out and replaced with “Arrest the Cops who Killed Breonna Taylor.”