Marlon Mack of the Colts rushes for a touchdown against the 49ers on Oct. 8, 2017.Stacy Revere/Getty Images
U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence left the 49ers-Colts game after about a dozen San Francisco players took a knee during the national anthem Sunday, the latest move by President Donald Trump's administration to clash with NFL players over patriotism and public demonstrations.
The former Indiana governor flew in so he could watch Peyton Manning's jersey retirement ceremony. Pence didn't stick around long.
Right around kickoff, Pence wrote on Twitter: "I left today's Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem."
The White House also issued a statement from Pence, in which he said Americans should rally around the flag. Pence said: "I don't think it's too much to ask NFL players to respect the Flag and our National Anthem."
San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid said Pence's departure looked like "a PR stunt."
"He knew our team has had the most players protest, he knew that we were probably going to do it again," Reid said. "This is what systemic oppression looks like: Man with power comes to the game, tweets a couple things out and leaves the game in an attempt to thwart our efforts."
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy declined to comment on Pence's walkout. The Colts also had no comment, and after their 26-23 overtime victory, Indianapolis coach Chuck Pagano steered clear of the issue. "No," Pagano said when asked if he had any reaction to what Pence did.
Pence missed an exciting game. After the Colts blew a 14-point lead in the final eight minutes of regulation and survived an interception in scoring position in overtime, Marlon Mack's 35-yard run set up Adam Vinatieri for a 51-yard field goal that beat San Francisco. Vinatieri made four field goals to move into second on the NFL's career list, one ahead of Gary Anderson (538). Mack and Jacoby Brissett each scored on TD runs for the Colts (2-3), who have won both games against winless teams. San Francisco (0-5) is one of three teams that still has not won this season. The Browns and Giants are the others.
Steelers stunned
Telvin Smith and Barry Church returned a pair of Ben Roethlisberger's interceptions for touchdowns and the Jacksonville Jaguars stunned the Steelers 31-9. Jacksonville (3-2) beat the Steelers for the first time in a decade by relying heavily on the NFL's top-ranked pass defence. The Jaguars picked off Roethlisberger five times in all and sacked him twice. Rookie Leonard Fournette ran for 181 yards and two touchdowns for the Jaguars, who are over .500 after five games for the first time since 2010 and have already matched their victory total from 2016. Roethlisberger was 33-of-55 for 312 yards and his career-high five interceptions, the most by a Pittsburgh quarterback since Mark Malone threw five against Cleveland in 1987.
Eagles still flying high
Carson Wentz threw a career-best four touchdown passes and the Eagles continued their impressive start with a 34-7 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Wentz tossed three scoring passes in the first quarter, including 59 yards to Torrey Smith, 11 yards to Zach Ertz and 15 yards to Trey Burton. He connected with Nelson Agholor for a 72-yard TD in the third quarter. The Eagles (4-1) have won three in a row.
Newton leads Panthers
Cam Newton showed he was very focused on football, throwing three touchdowns to help the Carolina Panthers build a lead big enough to hold off the Detroit Lions 27-24. The Panthers (4-1) scored 24 straight points after trailing 10-3 early in the second quarter. Detroit rallied, but could not stop Newton on his last drive to get the ball back. Newton came under fire for making sexist comments to a female reporter this week. He apologized after losing an endorsement deal and getting criticized by the NFL. He was 26-of-33 for a season-high 335 yards. Detroit (3-2) struggled until late in the game.
Browns fall to 0-5
Josh McCown came back to Cleveland and beat the team that cut him, throwing two touchdown passes and leading the surprising Jets over the winless Browns, who benched rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer and fell to 1-20 under coach Hue Jackson as the New York Jets beat the Browns 17-14. McCown went 1-10 in two seasons as a starter for the Browns (0-5), who dropped to 2-30 in their past 32 games.
Chargers end losing streak
The Los Angeles Chargers finally grabbed a win, while the New York Giants just about lost everything. Philip Rivers threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Melvin Gordon with 2 minutes 58 seconds to play and the Chargers rallied for a 27-22 victory in an ugly game between teams that each went 0-4 in the first month of the season. For New York, it was a fifth straight defeat, and dynamic wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. left with a broken left ankle.
Seahawks shut down Rams
Russell Wilson passed for 198 yards and a touchdown, and Earl Thomas forced two of the Rams' five turnovers in the Seattle Seahawks' 16-10 victory over Los Angeles. Jimmy Graham scored late in the first half in a defence-dominated win for the Seahawks (3-2), who shut out the NFL's highest-scoring offence in the second half of their second straight win over their NFC West rivals.