Note: Three Miami Dolphins decided to kneel during the National Anthem Sunday in the early game against the New Orleans Saints in London. 

People saw different things last weekend when they  saw entire NFL teams  kneeling during the National Anthem. Some saw the players adopting a prayerful posture. Some saw them displaying unpatriotic aversion to honor the nation’s flag. Some saw it as players protesting the police shootings that have made news the last few years.

But this mass protest was about something else. It was reactionary. Colin Kaepernick had knelt all of last season to protest police shootings. Very few joined him along the way. Kaepernick is now watching the games on TV rather than playing in them, partly as a result of the taint of controversy that he now wears.

So why did all of the league suddenly decide, after all this time, to follow Kaepernick’s lead last Sunday?

The answer is obvious. Trump called them a name. He insulted players who might decide to kneel for the anthem.

Protest About Mouthy President, Not Racist Cops

Two days before the games, Trump was putting on his usual show at a rally in Alabama, where he said, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a b**** off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s FIRED!”

 While Trump’s crowd erupted in applause and “USA” chants, the media exulted in this latest gift from the Showman-in-Chief. Angry responses quickly piled up, as Trump had piled on.

And this is why the NFL teams were kneeling on Sunday. It was not prayer. It was not intended to hate on America or insult veterans. And it was not to protest police misconduct or brutality, as was the case Kaepernick and a few others last season. It was a statement to the president, objecting to his inflammatory language — not to mention his clear attempt to use his office to control players’ actions.

The players themselves were clear on this. The ABC News headline on Sunday says it all: Don’t Talk about Mom: NFL Players Angry over Trump’s Insult. The article quotes an Atlanta Falcon who said, “I’m a son of a queen.” The Detroit Lions head coach said, “There are no SOBs in this league.” A Miami Dolphin said he “took it personally.”

Why Kneeling Was Not the Right Response to Trump

This protest was not the same as the Kaepernick protest last season. So whatever reasons we might have had to disagree with Kaepernick, we have to reconsider whether those reasons apply this time, because the situation isn’t the same. We asked then whether kneeling for the anthem is an appropriate form of protest against police injustices. Now we have to ask instead, is kneeling for the anthem the right response to the president’s insulting and controlling language?

Having asked, I will tell you my own answer, which is that the players’ response does not fit the president’s offense. To be clear, Trump should have stopped talking like this in speeches and tweets long ago. He’s wrong and foolish for the way he goes after people in these petty ways .But he hasn’t stopped, and it isn’t likely he ever will. So what can we do?

A verbal or written response by owners, coaches and/or players, explaining what was objectionable about the president’s insult, would have been very appropriate. I think most people would have agreed with them, had they said that.

But kneeling (or not appearing at all) for the National Anthem is bad optics. It was intended to communicate the players’ objections to the president’s insult, but the act is so closely associated with disrespect to the entire nation, it ended up saying something else instead. Those who cheered Trump’s original line were validated in their belief that players are unpatriotic. Next time they’ll be chanting “USA” even louder, as if that were the real issue — which it wasn’t, at least not this time.

Is it ever appropriate to refuse to salute the flag or to sing the National Anthem? According to popular opinion, Most people said Kaepernick was wrong when he did it to protest police shootings. Why, then, would they think it an appropriate response to a Trump insult?

Players could have said something potentially constructive to the president. Instead they alienated many people — including some who likely would have taken their side in chastening him.