Only 41 NFL players sat or knelt during the national anthem Sunday in the earlier slate of games, ESPN reported.
A record 180 knelt or sat last week as a result of the firestorm created by President Donald Trump when he said NFL players should be fired for kneeling during the national anthem. Trump has continued to tweet about the issue, and on Saturday said it was "very important" for the players to stand and to “respect our flag and our country.”
Just 11 players knelt or sat during the anthem earlier Sunday, a number that nearly tripled when the entire San Francisco 49ers team knelt ahead of their game at the St. Louis Cardinals.
A report Sunday said Trump called Cowboys owner Jerry Jones four times to implore him to not kneel during the anthem last week. Jones and the team knelt ahead of the anthem but stood up for the anthem with locked arms.
"Jerry Jones, before the Cowboys took the field on Monday night, was in the locker room, he got four separate calls from President Donald Trump imploring him,'please do not have America's team kneel during the anthem,'" Rapoport said.
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