President Trump called Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones "four times throughout the day" on Monday prior to the team's game against the Cardinals "in an effort to determine what the team would do for the national anthem," according to sources cited by Jean-Jacques Taylor of NBCDFW.com. Jones less than 30 minutes before kickoff "persuaded the players" to go with a plan that saw the team link arms and kneel before standing prior the national anthem. Trump yesterday morning tweeted, "Spoke to Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys yesterday. Jerry is a winner who knows how to get things done. Players will stand for Country!" Taylor wrote, "If you're on the Cowboy's roster, you have to wonder if you were just a pawn in yet another one of the president's political battles? It's fair for some players to wonder if Jerry conned them, tricking them into appearing to be subservient, when they were actually trying to make a statement about unity and equality" (NBCDFW.com, 9/27). In Ft. Worth, Clarence Hill Jr. writes Jones insisting on the Cowboys using his plan on Monday after talking to Trump "makes it all the more interesting and calculated." Did the Cowboys "get played in Jones’ effort to save the game and keep the money flowing?" Hill: "Or are they committed to the cause of truly making a difference when it comes to racism and social injustice? You can’t serve two masters. Now what?" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 9/28). CBSSPORTS.com's Will Brinson wrote Jones should expect "plenty of questions about the specifics of the conversation he had with Trump on this, particularly after his comments following Monday night's win over the Cardinals primarily featured Jones saying he felt it was best to simply move on from the entire issue altogether, and that his team's actions prior to the game spoke louder than words" (CBSSPORTS.com, 9/27).
