J.J. Watt says fans booing during moment of unity 'was unfortunate'
CINCINNATI — The Chiefs beat the Texans 34-20 on Thursday night to start the 2020 NFL season.
The defending champions looked sharp, as they easily dismantled Houston in a game that was never in doubt.
Before the game and after the national anthem was played, both teams gathered at midfield for a "moment of unity."
Quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson locked arms, as did every player and coach from both teams.
Booing ensued from some of the fans at Arrowhead Stadium.
“The moment of unity I personally thought was good,” Watt said according James Palmer of NFL Network. “I mean the booing during that moment was unfortunate. I don’t fully understand that. There was no flag involved. There was nothing involved other than two teams coming together to show unity.”
Less than 16,000 fans were in attendance, but the booing was loud enough to hear on camera.
"All in all a locker room is a very diverse place," Watt continued. "There are people from all difference backgrounds and all different situations. I've been very fortunate to be a part of many locker rooms in my life. In this locker room we've had more comfortable conversations than we've ever had about topics that maybe are uncomfortable to talk about and maybe people have never opened up about these conversations.
"I've learned a lot. I've been educated a lot. It's really been a growing experience for our team and we've come a lot closer because of it."
The Bengals will consider staying in the locker room for the national anthem on Sunday. Kneeling as a team is another possibility.
Whatever they decide, they're going to do it together.
"That we’re supportive of each other. Everyone has a different background. Everyone has a different reasoning for things," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said earlier this week. "We’ve talked in-depth as a team. It was very emotional meetings and we’re not even complete with those yet. We’ll keep those to ourselves, but again, we want to be unified in our approach and supportive of everybody in this organization.
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