J.J. Watt said Thursday he heard fans booing when his Houston Texans teammates and the Kansas City Chiefs players took the field for a moment of unity before the coin toss.
The Texans were not on the field during the national anthem or the rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Instead, the players chose to stay in the locker room. They joined the Chiefs players at midfield before the game. Players locked arms and spread out across the field.
Watt said he heard some boos, which struck a nerve with NFL fans on social media as well.
“The moment of unity I personally thought was good,” the star defensive end told reporters after the game. “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.”
Texans coach Bill O’Brien said he didn’t think the booing was for the moment of unity.
“I thought that that was a nice thing to do, so I’m not sure why they would boo that,” O’Brien said. “Maybe they were just booing us because we had just come on the field as the visiting team. But yeah, I thought that that was a nice gesture.”
Chiefs coach Andy Reid said he didn’t hear any boos.
“I thought that was kind of a neat deal, both sides coming together for a cause and the story was told there,” he said.
“We can all learn from this, and really it’s just to make us all better, even a stronger country than we already are. We have a chance to just be completely unstoppable when all hands join together and that’s a beautiful thing.”
The Chiefs won the game, 34-20.
