Villanueva regrets how anthem decision played out

Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva, a former U.S. Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan, explained to reporters Monday why he didn’t stay with his teammates during the national anthem prior to Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears:

I would say that my personal thoughts about this situation is that regardless of this plan, very few players knew that I was going to the tunnel because I only talked to the team leadership and so because of that I didn’t give them an opportunity to stand with me during the national anthem. That is the very embarrassing part on my end in what transpires. Because when everybody sees an image of me standing by myself everybody thinks that the team and the Steelers are not behind me and that’s absolutely wrong. It’s quite the opposite, actually the entire team would have been out there with me even the ones that wanted to take a knee would have been out there with me had they known these extreme circumstances that at Soldier Field in the heat of the moment when I’ve got soldiers, wounded veterans texting me that I have to be out there. Then I think everything would have been put aside from every single one of my teammates no doubt. So because of that, I’ve made coach [Mike] Tomlin look bad and that is my fault and my fault only. I’ve made my teammates look bad and that is my fault and my fault only and I’ve made the Steelers also look bad and that is my fault and my fault only. So unwilling I’ve made a mistake and I’ve talked to my teammates about the situation. Hopefully they understand it. If they don’t I still have to live with it because the nature of this debate is causing a lot of very heated reactions from fans from players and it’s underserving to all the players and coaches from this organization.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger explained how Villaneuva got separated from his teammates in the tunnel leading to the field.

“There was a flag or something coming off the field so there was a bunch of Bears fans coming off the field holding that, going in front of us, so it kind of held us up. Al was down at the end of the tunnel where we had told him we were going to come at the end of the tunnel. We were going to go to the tunnel to stand together. By time all the chaos kind of happened in front of us, as we started to take our step the anthem started, so we stopped to show respect for the anthem. I was talking to Cam [Heyward]. I regret not going down to Al. But Al didn’t know we were not there. Al thought we were standing with him. There was no division there. We were 20 feet behind him … There was no division there. Just is the way it appeared through pictures and camera stuff.”

Steelers players decided during a team meeting Saturday they would not go onto the field during the anthem. Steelers coaches, including Tomlin, stood on the sideline during the anthem. Villanueva said he spoke to Roethlisberger on Saturday about leading the Steelers onto the field alongside the team captains and that the quarterback agreed to it.

Villanueva’s jersey has become the highest-selling jersey on Shop.NFL.com since Sunday.

Roethlisberger released a statement Monday, saying he wished the Steelers “approached it differently.”

I was unable to sleep last night and want to share my thoughts and feelings on our team’s decision to remain in the tunnel for the national anthem yesterday. The idea was to be unified as a team when so much attention is paid to things dividing our country, but I wish we approached it differently. We did not want to appear divided on the sideline with some standing and some kneeling or sitting.

As a team, it was not a protest of the flag or the anthem. I personally don’t believe the anthem is ever the time to make any type of protest. For me, and many others on my team and around the league, it is a tribute to those who commit to serve and protect our country, current and past, especially the ones that made the ultimate sacrifice.

I appreciate the unique diversity in my team and throughout the league and completely support the call for social change and the pursuit of true equality. Moving forward, I hope standing for the anthem shows solidarity as a nation, that we stand united in respect for the people on the front lines protecting our freedom and keeping us safe. God bless those men and women.

Tomlin is expected to speak with the media Tuesday at noon ET.

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Bannon Takes His Total War to Trump’s Doorstep

Having lost the battle to control Donald Trump’s presidency from within the West Wing, Steve Bannon has taken his war on the Republican Party outside the White House, leaning into his reputation as a political brawler to pressure Trump to uphold the populist-nationalist agenda that helped sweep him into power. “They’re not going to help you unless they’re put on notice,” he remarked earlier this month, promising to support anti-establishment candidates in order to transform the G.O.P.

On Tuesday, Bannon’s influence within the conservative movement will be put to the test. Bucking the establishment Republicans and Trump himself, Bannon had sent nearly all of Breitbart’s political reporters to Alabama to boost former judge Roy Moore against Luther Strange, the state’s former Attorney General, in the special election to fill Jeff Session’s vacant Senate seat. Moore, a controversial culture warrior with a decidedly Breitbartian, anti-Mitch McConnell tilt, held a wide and comfortable lead in the race long before Bannon had sent Breitbart down south. And in a sign that he is seeking to position himself as a power broker, Bannon appeared at a campaign rally for Moore on Monday night to deliver a barnburner of a speech.

“We have a cute phrase: ‘Drain the Swamp.’ But the enemy we face is not cute,” he told the crowd, hours before the polls were set to open Tuesday morning. “And we’re not going to do it with slogans. We’re just not going to do it because we wish it away. You’re gonna have to fight every day to take Washington back, and by taking Washington back, take the control of your own lives back!”

Although the Strange-Moore primary has been positioned as a proxy battle for the soul of the Republican Party, pitting the establishment against the far-right, Bannon himself defended his support for Moore as more pro-Trump than Trump himself. ”A vote for Judge Roy Moore is a vote for Donald J. Trump,” he said, even as the president dispatched Vice President Mike Pence to campaign for Strange. ”And a vote for Donald J Trump is a vote to make America great again.”

“We were not here to defy President Trump, we were here to praise him,” Bannon explained in a follow-up interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, who broadcast live from the sidelines of the Moore rally. “Strange can’t sit there and say ‘I can stand up to Mitch McConnell.’ McConnell is giving him 30 million dollars.”

Moore had been making that arguments for weeks, but Bannon’s influence elevated Moore’s position to a national level. CNN reported that inside Breitbart, the editorial leadership made no secret of their preferred candidate. “As of now, everyone is working on the Alabama race,” political editor Matthew Boyle told employees in an internal chat room. “If anyone has any questions please let me know.” Indeed, the focus on Alabama was so intense that on Monday, coverage about Moore and Strange dominated the site’s front page.

For Bannon, Tuesday’s primary could be an inflection point in his fight against the “new aristocracy” in Washington whom he blames for his political defenestration after a brief ascent into the White House’s inner circle. “I wear their contempt as a badge of honor,” he declared to Hannity. “They have helped destroy this country. They have perpetrated economic hate crimes against the good people of this country.”

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