Week 3: Jerry Takes a Knee

They are America's Team but this is not a political team. No Cowboys player has protested during the anthem this season - Jones has said many times, he appreciates the entertainment value of football. As he told me years ago during the NFL lockout, "we owners put on the show." But the Cowboys realized over the weekend this was the tipping point, particularly on Saturday with players taking serious issue with the president's comments that those who protest should be suspended or fired. I'm told by a team source that the meeting over WHAT to DO began Saturday and did not end until 15 minutes before kickoff - the voices in the room were extremely passionate - with some players wanting to sit or kneel - some wanting to stand - and they came up with a compromise, show support for equality by kneeling first then standing for the anthem. Jerry Jones told me that would allow both ideas to be heard.

The Cowboys executives watched the other teams handle the anthem, and they didn't see a template that worked best - they didn't like the teams where some were sitting, some were standing. As one team source told me, other teams are making it up as they go along, that's what we're doing too.

Agree or disagree, this was how the Cowboys dealt with a public controversy that has elicited strong emotions on both sides.