The metronome routine of practice, game and film review was broken last week, when the Giants reviewed how they stood for the national anthem in their preseason opener.
The replay revealed a group of coaches and players at the 50-yard line, as well as the youth football teams invited to take the field at halftime.
Ben McAdoo paused the tape and asked his players what they saw.
“They said, ‘The kids,’’’ McAdoo told The Post Thursday after practice. “Really, I think that hit home for a lot of ’em, that the example they’re setting for the diverse group of children standing there getting ready to go play a youth football game in their pads. That’s important to a lot of these guys.’’
Colin Kaepernick is unemployed, yet the national anthem and the NFL is again a hot-point topic, bubbling to the surface in the wake of the harrowing events in Charlottesville, Va. Marshawn Lynch sat during the anthem in the Raiders’ first preseason game. Michael Bennett of the Seahawks says he will not stand all season, and teammate Doug Baldwin says he might join him in taking a knee.
The Giants face the Browns on Monday night in Cleveland. The season is not here yet, but soon. There are decisions to be made about whether to stand, or sit, to conform or protest.
“I don’t know … I don’t have an answer to that,’’ McAdoo said. “I tell ’em my door is always open if they want to talk. We talk more about empathy and how our country’s not perfect. That’s not what standing for the anthem means for us. It is a way to show respect for the people who have served and understand our country is not perfect. And we can make a difference.’’
These are difficult times, and McAdoo, the 40-year-old white head coach from rural western Pennsylvania, will not allow his upbringing — growing up in a Homer City environment he says “was not diverse’’ — to define him or the way he leads his team.
“Times have changed, times are different, but I choose empathy over judgment,’’ he said. “It’s not sympathy. It’s empathy.’’
On Tuesday, as training camp broke, McAdoo decided to show the Giants the movie “Detroit,’’ but it was not a mandatory event, he said, “because it was a very uncomfortable film to watch.’’
Attendance was strong and the Giants sat through the recounting of the 1967 12th Street Riots, with the city under curfew, Michigan National Guard in the streets and three African-American teens murdered in what became known as the Algiers Motel Incident.
“I didn’t know a lot about the events that transpired back in the ’60s, especially in Detroit with the riots,’’ said Eli Apple, a 22-year-old cornerback. “I don’t think all schools teach that in history classes. They didn’t teach that to me in my history class.
“The message, the whole thing was kinda sad because you see there was no real justice that was done at the end of it. It wasn’t like a happy ending. I was like, ‘Wow, a lot has happened.’ It makes you think about the world a little bit.’’
The timing and selection of the movie was no coincidence.
“Especially with everything going on right now down in Charlottesville, I think it was pretty appropriate,’’ said linebacker Jonathan Casillas, 30. “There’s a lot of tension in the country, especially since Trump took office. It’s pretty evident.’’
McAdoo said he felt uncomfortable while watching the movie.
“It hits home with what’s going on in Virginia right now, with what’s going on in the country,’’ he said. “It was a tough night. It was a somber exit from the room, but I felt it was the best way to educate and empower the room.’’
Last week before the first preseason game, McAdoo instructed Mike Sullivan, the offensive coordinator and former Army Ranger and graduate of the US Military Academy, to share with the team what the national anthem means to him.
“It’s not about standing up for what you personally believe in, which is fine, but we wanted to take a collective team-unity type of approach to the national anthem,’’ Casillas said.
These messages, directly or sanctioned by the head coach, do not go unnoticed.
“You know what, he’s very in tune with, not only the locker room and the guys, but the world and what we’re going through as a country,’’ Casillas said. “He knows he’s not a 25- or 28-year-old black man. He knows that. For him to put himself in our shoes, he cannot do that. He understands, to a certain point, and he’s willing to understand more and that’s a tribute to him. It’s very modest of him to do that.’’