More than a dozen NFL groups canceled or delayed Thursday’s practice, four days after a 29-year-old black boy named Jacob Blake shot him seven times in the back through a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The New England Patriots didn’t.
The Patriots chose to do their education at the education camp as scheduled Thursday morning. It was an animated consultation ruled through the defense of New England and was related to many junk talks.
But staying on the calendar, after NBA players and several other professional leagues boycotted Wednesday’s games, was it the right decision? Corner veteran Jason McCourty addressed this complicated factor at a post-practice video convention with reporters.
“I feel like right now, myself and I know a lot of other guys I’ve communicated with in the locker room right now, we’re lost, man,” McCourty said. “It’s almost like a sense of despair. Array… We canceled today’s practice, communicated about the race, communicated what happened to Jacob Blake, communicate what has been happening in our country for many years, but then I will exercise tomorrow. Nobody cares. I think we’re looking to perceive that now.”
A visibly moved McCourty spoke for more than 15 minutes of despair, the confusion he and several of his Patriots teammates feel after Blake’s shooting, which occurred three months after the murder of George Floyd through a Minneapolis police officer who sparked national protests. .
McCourty said the practice can provide an escape for the players, but that he felt “a sense of guilt” for taking credit for this merit.
“Actually, it’s hard to show up (at work),” McCourty said. “We are informed to compartmentalize, and I think when we faint in the box today in training, you spend there and you’re also a competitor, and you get lost in football. I think it can be a smart thing because it provides you have the freedom to pass out and be who you are and do what you love. (But) I think as soon as it’s over, you come back to reality, and there’s almost a sense of guilt that, hey, I can get out and I can escape what’s really going on here.
“But for Jacob Blake’s three young men who sat in the car and saw their father being shot seven times, where do you go to escape that feeling? Where do you go to clear that view? Where do you go to deal with this kind of trauma? ? It’s a feeling of guilt when you leave, and that’s probably the most important thing I suffer today: the guilt of being able to get into construction and move on to play football.
“Because the truth is that I can be anywhere, and as soon as I leave the construction and have no football in my hand, I’m just a black guy on the street, and I look a lot like some of the men who lost their lives, who were shot in the streets. The truth of the challenge is that I am lucky enough to be able to do what I can and have this platform, and for me, I will do my best. use this platform to help those who don’t have the ability to make their voices listen so that others can hear them.
“So, yes, you definitely have to beat and love your work, paint there and build like a team and all the smart things, but there’s a sense of guilt that comes with that.”
The Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals, Tennessee Titans, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers and Washington Football Team all canceled practice Thursday. The Detroit Lions did so Tuesday, with former Patriots Duron Harmon and Trey Flowers helping spearhead that effort.
McCourty asked if the Patriots planned to assemble as a team to talk about Blake’s shooting and the broader combat opposed to police brutality and racial injustice, as they did after Floyd’s death this year.
“When we cancel the practice and go down, we get together and talk, is there a difference? When we stay inside for the national anthem and we pass there and play the game for four rooms and entertain everyone, does that make any difference? And I think that’s what I’m suffering.
“We canceled the practice and sat down and communicated. Is Thursday working out only on Friday? Do everyone write a story on Thursday that the Patriots canceled the practice and the headlines are “Cam Newton gets excited about the exercise”? And then we continue and communicate about that day – who came out, who is injured, who came back, who received an interception, who interrupted a great career? It’s just moving forward. It’s like, “Yes, it was amazing. They canceled the practice. They did something. Oh, however, they went out to exercise the next day, and that’s what we’re going to write about and that’s what we’re going to discuss. “”
McCourty referred to a virtual press convention that his brother, the Patriots deep, Devin McCourty, offered near the start of the school camp. During the call, McCourty refused to answer questions and issued a length of questions that addressed many non-football issues, adding school reform, fitness inequalities and the death of Breonna Taylor. In conclusion, the Patriots co-captain has long seriously criticized the NFL for delaying its deadline for the retirement of COVID-related players.
“I went to Twitter after that,” Jason McCourty said, “and what I’ve noticed at most is “Devin McCourty denounces the NFL and the withdrawal date.” None said, “Devin McCourty addresses Breonna Taylor.” Devin McCourty talks about equivalent rights for all “;” Devin McCourty talks about voting. “It’s not about that. It’s about the NFL.
McCourty said he felt guilty that his platform advertised social change, but that athletes should not have all the answers.
“I think for us as players, we’re lost,” McCourty said. “We don’t know why we practice. We don’t know why we wouldn’t practice. We don’t know why we’re putting ourselves in a position for the games. We don’t know why we wouldn’t. We’re absolutely lost as Americans. We have no idea how to go. Array..
“It’s a struggle. Because there are times when I feel like, “Dude, that’s crazy. I don’t faint to entertain when I feel what I’m feeling. And is that the right thing to do? Does that do something? Is that fair? It’s a ridiculous fight. »