Indianapolis Colts Trust How Their Players Will Deal With Unrest
INDIANAPOLIS — As a nation began to voice its outrage about last week’s death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis, Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich knew he had to address that with players.
Reich and general manager Chris Ballard spoke to the team last Thursday in a Zoom video conference call. Some players spoke up. At least two players have been actively involved, including Colts rookie Isaiah Rodgers, who assisted other players in cleaning up from looting in Tampa, Fla.
It’s a delicate fine line for the Colts and players — the organization can’t restrict players from standing up and having their voices heard, but the team also has a legitimate concern about player safety.
“Sometimes it requires taking risks, and I trust our players. I trust our players,” Reich said, when asked about players wanting to protest. “I wouldn’t be foolish enough to try to tell them how to display and act on how they feel inside. As family members, we can talk about it, but every person has to make that individual choice for themselves. I know a couple of our players have peacefully protested, cleaning up in a city – that type of thing and some others. Obviously, I hope and pray for their safety but I also understand that we are all trying to do our part in the ways that we think is best.”
The city of Indianapolis announced Monday afternoon a second consecutive day for an early curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Weekend protests resulted in heated interaction with police — tear gas was used to disperse downtown crowds. While it’s unknown how related two Saturday deaths were to the protests, one fatality was ex-Indiana University football player Chris Beaty.
Reich admitted the call with players was difficult, but something needed to be said. He opened his Monday call with media by sharing his own written words on injustice and racism because Reich sensed the situation demanded a statement and acknowledgment.
“I don’t know if there was any way to properly address it as a team on a Zoom meeting, but myself and Chris Ballard did get on the Zoom meeting and shared a few thoughts with our team last Thursday,” he said. “It was hard to know the exact thing to say, but I just knew that we had to say something because we are a family as a football team. Even though I can never fully understand, right – we have a hard time fully understanding sometimes what other people are feeling. There is just something innately I think that we all know inside when we saw what happened in Minnesota, when we see what happens in general in this issue – innately we all know something is wrong, something must be said.
“I just felt like we couldn’t be silent. So, Chris and I agreed that we were going to get on there and talk to the team about it. What we talked about was individually and organizationally, the responsibility we have given the platform that we have to try and make a difference.”
He acknowledged many of his players have been affected by the uproar.
“You guys know our players,” he said. “Our players understand the responsibility and they’re hurting, many of them are hurting and feel the pain of this, and because of that, I feel it. As the coach, I feel when someone in your family is hurting, we all know it. If you truly believe that it’s family and someone in your family is hurting, then you hurt.
“So, I think that is at some level what we experienced. So, to just listen to that a little bit – it wasn’t a long conversation. A few players spoke up but like I said, in that form, it is probably not the ideal form to talk about something like that. But I just felt like we had to do something.”
The Colts, like other NFL teams, are unable to unite during virtual offseason training due to safety restrictions enforced because of the coronavirus pandemic. Coaches can’t visit the team headquarters and the only players permitted are those receiving treatment for injuries.
Reich suggested he doesn’t see coaches being back in the building anytime soon and there’s no need to disrupt the ritual routine, which includes daily meetings and players videotaping drills where vital signs are monitored.
Reich was asked about Rodgers’ protest participation.
“I mean those are the kind of guys that have horseshoe qualities who represent what we are all about,” the coach said. “It’s funny, ironically as a team part of the messaging last week was how do we mix individual identity and personality with team identity and personality? The previous week that was kind of the theme of the message because you guys know that I am all about the players expressing their individual identities and personalities. I just happen to think that that doesn’t have to conflict with what the team value and identity is. In fact, we kind of found each other – that is why we are together as a team.
“In part because there is such a high level, because we do so much on the front end of understanding the kind of man that we’re getting to be on our team, and not just the kind of football player we are getting – it is not surprising to me to see our players doing the right thing and saying the right thing. I come to expect it and trust it. I personally believe in them. I can’t call every guy and say, ‘What are you going to do?’ In some regard, I think they should be calling me and helping me – tell me what to do and what to say. So it is kind of a 'we should be helping each other.' That is the mindset and Isaiah obviously has done a great job. I know a couple of our other players have done similar things.”
Asked what his visceral reaction was to the viral video of Floyd dying while being pinned to the ground by police, Reich said it was “literally heart-wrenching” and “It’s wrong in every form.”
The Colts issued an organizational statement.
(Phillip B. Wilson has covered the Indianapolis Colts for more than two decades and authored the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He’s on Twitter @pwilson24, on Facebook at @allcoltswithphilb and @100thingscoltsfans, and his email is phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com.)
