For the national anthem before Sunday’s game, the New Orleans Saints followed the Dallas Cowboys.
The team members took a knee before the anthem for a few moments and then stood when it began playing, which is what the Cowboys did in their “Monday Night Football” game. Last week, several Saints team members took knees during the anthem.
The three Dolphins who took knees during the anthem stood for “God Save the Queen,” the United Kingdom’s national anthem.
The protests were started by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who said he took a knee to protest police brutality and racial inequality.
It comes a week after President Donald Trump suggested that players who refused to stand for the anthem should be fired. Last Sunday, about 200 players partook in some form of protest during the anthem, prompting many fans to say they won’t watch any more games or buy team merchandise.
Over the weekend, Trump continued to make reference to standing for the anthem, tweeting a video showing 19,000 fans standing for the anthem at a hockey game.
Trump has made the ratings a topic of his tweets, saying that if players persist in kneeling during the anthem, the numbers will plummet even more.
“Ratings for NFL football are way down except before game starts, when people tune in to see whether or not our country will be disrespected!” he tweeted last week.
