Across the NFL Sunday, players and coaches protested during the national anthem in response to comments made by President Trump on Friday.
The Green Bay Packers were no exception.
Most of the Packers stood arm-in-arm on the sideline during the anthem. Running back Ty Mongtomery kneeled while Lance Kendricks, Martellus Bennett and Kevin King sat on the bench.
On Friday, during a rally in Alabama, President Trump said players who protest the anthem should be fired and fans should boycott the NFL.
The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race. It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2017
His comments prompted protests across the league, with players kneeling, sitting or locking arms.
After the Packers overtime win against the Bengals, several players were vocal in the locker room about what they chose to do in response to Trump's comments. Here's what they had to say:
Lance Kendricks
"No. 1, I was just trying to support a teammate. One thing that our coach spoke about was unity and just supporting your team. And the second thing, my wife's Puerto Rican and her family's in Puerto Rico. And for me, I feel like the president should have focused a lot of light on Puerto Rico and what's going on there. They don't have any power. A lot of people are missing. I feel like that's where the focus needs to be, and not on what we're doing during the anthem. It's become a distraction, and for people there, for her family, it's tough. And I see it first hand, so that was my decision, on just trying to bring some awareness to what's going on in Puerto Rico as well as supporting my teammates."
"There's so much going on in the world other than what's going on here. It's bigger than standing or sitting or kneeling. It's bigger than that. It's making sure people are healthy, are alive."
Kevin King
“It was really a game-time decision. It’s hard, being a rookie. It’s hard. I had to think long and hard about it, because there’s a lot that can come with that.”
“It was crazy because here I am, I’m going into my first game starting, and I’m following A.J. Green. And, of course, I know that. Before the game, I’m thinking about if I should kneel, and that says something there. Of course I’m focused on the game and everything, but in the back of my mind, I’m thinking, ‘What should I do in this situation?' It's crazy how outside things that's going on in this world can impact you like that. But I feel like I did what I needed to do."
Ty Montgomery
"I wouldn't necessarily say so much that I was kneeling. I didn't want to do anything in a way of protesting. There's a lot going on, there's a lot of turmoil within our country and within people in our country. And being a man of faith, I wanted to bring God right there in that moment, just very quickly, I squatted, bowed my head and closed my eyes and just wanted to lift up this country and everyone involved and pray for a brief moment. And I stood back up. I don't want it to turn into, for me personally, I don't want it to look like some kind of protest."
Aaron Rodgers
"I used social media this morning to address some of that. On this team, we're going to keep choosing love over hate, unity over division. And that's what it was to us, in talking last night and this morning. We had a few of us who linked arms, just wanted to show a united front. I know personally on my Twitter and social media, I was receiving a lot of positivity but a lot of hatred as well, which is interesting. I know that it's probably one-tenth or one-100th maybe of some of my black teammates who've been using their platform to try and make a difference. But again, this was about unity. And we respect our men and women in uniform, we respect our troops. We love them. We appreciate what they do for us. Today was about using our platform to promote love and unity and acceptance and togetherness and I hope we did that."
