Bill O’Brien will kneel with players

Bill O’Brien, head coach of the Houston Texans, was accused by two of his former players — DeAndre Hopkins, Ed Reed — of being less respectful of black players and their culture than he is of whites.  The Texans prohibited their players from kneeling when the national anthem was played last year.  So it’s surprising that O’Brien is the first NFL coach to promise to kneel when the anthem is played in the upcoming season.  He told the Houston Chronicle: “Yeah, I’ll take a knee.  The players have a right to protest, a right to be heard and a right to be who they are.  They’re not taking a knee because they’re against the flag.  They’re taking a knee because they haven’t been treated equally in this country for over 400 years.”  O’Brien supported the protests that followed charges of Minneapolis police murdering former Houstonian George Floyd.  The coach/general manager canceled all virtual team activities on June 9 and instead encouraged his players to attend the funeral service for Floyd, even though doing so might entail risk of contracting COVID-19.  O’Brien attended along with his star defensive end J.J. Watt, owner Cal McNair, offensive coordinator Tim Kelly, defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, former Texans nose-tackle D.J. Reader and 6,000 other people.

Dear Coach: Smart move , considering you were in danger of “losing the locker room” because of a perceived lack of empathy for 70 percent of the work force.  The late Bob McNair, who hired you, made your job difficult with his much-publicized comment about “the inmates running the prison.”