EARTH CITY, Mo. -- St. Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher made it clear Monday afternoon that he preferred not to mix sports and politics when he declined to answer questions about five of his players doing the "Hands up" gesture in a nod to protestors in nearby Ferguson before Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders.
"One of the main responsibilities as a head coach in the National Football League, which I have been, since, well nearly 20 years now is to address the media on the day immediately following the game and discuss the outcome, win, loss, I'll throw a tie in there, what happened and why," Fisher said. "It's my personal opinion, I firmly believe that it's important that I keep sports and politics separate. I'm a head coach. I'm not a politician, an activist or an expert on societal issues. So I'm going to answer questions about the game."
That wasn't the response the assembled media or anyone, really, was looking for. In fact, Fisher's nearly 20 years in the league should have long ago alerted him to the fact that sometimes sports and politics intertwine -- even if it's unwanted. Fisher didn't ask receivers Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin and Chris Givens and tight end Jared Cook to express themselves during pre-game introductions and he didn't know that they had decided to do it beforehand.
As of Monday afternoon, Fisher said he had not yet spoken to any of the players about it but acknowledged that those conversations will take place and the nature of the chats will remain confidential.
From there, Fisher went on to point out he spoke to the team about Ferguson on Wednesday and went on to detail some of the positive things the Rams' organization had done for the community. That included inviting about 50 small business owners whose stores were damaged by looting and burning last week to the game, providing 2,000 Thanksgiving dinners to families in need on Tuesday and the entire team's symbolic gesture of locking arms in solidarity during the national anthem before Sunday's game.
Much of that good was forgotten in the aftermath of Sunday's game as attention to the gesture increased when the St. Louis Police Officers Association released a statement calling for the players to be disciplined and seeking a "very public" apology.
Fisher did mention that the players would face no such punishment and that Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff met with local law enforcement to discuss what happened.
"As far as the choice that the players made, no, they were exercising their right to free speech," Fisher said. "They will not be disciplined by the club nor will they be disciplined by the National Football League as it was released today. That's all I'm going to say.
"It's been brought to my attention that Kevin has had discussions with police department and law enforcement and any questions with respect to that should be directed to him and for that matter, any questions outside of football should be directed to the organization."