Friday 29 September 2017 06:23, UK
Minnesota Vikings' tight end Kyle Rudolph is penning a weekly blog during the 2017 NFL season. In his latest offering, he talks about the US national anthem protests that dominated the NFL on Sunday...
If the world was like a locker room, it would be a much better place.
We have guys that come from all walks of life; it doesn't matter what nationality you are, what colour your skin is - we all come together for one ultimate goal and always work towards that.
With that in mind, it was important that whatever we did during the national anthem on Sunday, we did it together, as a team.
We stood and linked arms throughout - not only the players, but the coaches, our ownership group, our general manager - as a sign of unity, to show our support for our teammates, who are going through things that not all of us are going through.
We empathise with them. But it was also important for us to stand and show our support for our flag and what it stands for. That includes our right to freedom of speech and protest - that's one of the big foundations of our country.
For me, personally, and a lot of our guys on our team, we have family members and friends that have served in the military and know people that have lost their lives for that flag. And one of the quotes I saw this week was about fallen soldiers, and that an American flag is draped over their casket. That's how sacred it is.
That's why it was important for us to honour and respect the flag, but also to show that our teammates are our brothers. I thought it was a really cool thing to be a part of.
It wasn't a distraction for us, as everybody was on board. We went out afterwards and put in a really good performance to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Case Keenum [369 yards and three TDs] played really well at quarterback. I mentioned last week that he's a guy that can make all the throws - he was a pretty prolific passer throughout his college career at Houston and has won games before in this league - but we just needed to make sure we protected him, kept him upright in the pocket.
We went out and did exactly that, and then we have guys on the outside that can beat one-on-one coverage and make big plays for us in the passing game.
Stefon Diggs had a 173-yard day and caught two touchdowns - he has hit the ground running ever since arriving as a rookie. In his first NFL start he immediately had a 100-yard game.
And then look at Adam Thielen [98 yards] - the last time we came to London in 2013, he was on the practice squad and was actually playing as scout team corner as we practiced that week.
He has since grown from a practice squad player to a really good special teams player and then into an elite receiver in this game. It has been fun to watch him grow.
Since Sunday's win, it has been about trying to get all of the aches and pains out of the body, recover, and then get ready to go again.
It is a big game for us this weekend against the Detroit Lions. Not only is it a divisional game, but they're a team we expect to be battling for a play-off spot with come December.
If you go back and look at the last two years, we beat Detroit twice two years ago, and made the play-offs, while they beat us twice last year and they made the play-offs.
There is definitely a little bit of extra importance placed on this one.
