FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. _ Falcons coach Dan Quinn addressed the social protest of San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick with the team.
"We had a nice meeting about that, actually," Quinn said on Tuesday. "We know that we are one team. We would hope that if anybody wanted to demonstrate in any way, for any cause, that they'd consult their teammates on that. We want to make sure whatever we are doing, we represent our team."
Kaepernick has been protesting the treatment of African-Americans by the police during the exhibition season by sitting down during the national anthem. He's taken this action for the past three games. His actions, which were made public by an NFL.com report by Steve Wyche, have caused a firestorm league-wide.
Quinn's message didn't address the merits or the form of the protest.
"It's our team," Quinn said. "Our city. Our owner and the organization. They are one group. One team and one fight."
Away from the team, players may have their own protests.
"What we do outside of that, we support our brothers," Quinn said. "But we'd hope that if we are all together that we'd use that with our best intentions to make sure that everything is about the team especially when we are at a ball game."
