BALTIMORE — A week earlier, Alejandro Villanueva had become a symbol of the division in the country over the polarizing protests by NFL players during the national anthem. The offensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers, a former Army Ranger, had stood at the end of a tunnel leading to the field in Chicago, with his hand over his heart during the national anthem, while his teammates stuck to their plan of not being on the field.
It made for what Villanueva on Sunday called a “pretty stressful” week. That week ended with less angst Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium, as Villanueva and his Steelers teammates stood together on their sideline for the anthem, then went out and beat the Baltimore Ravens decisively, 26-9.
“There was a miscommunication last week,” Villanueva said. “This week we were able to talk it all out. There were no miscommunications this week, and we were back to football.”
Villanueva spoke at length about the issue as he sat in front of his locker following the game, wearing a black T-shirt with an American flag on it.
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“I’m tired of the cameras in my face all the time,” he said. “It’s crazy. ... It’s just sad. We’ve got a Baltimore Ravens-Steelers game and everybody’s focused on the pregame procedures. I thought the team tried their best last week and this week to handle things right. But unfortunately you’re not always gonna get it right. Hopefully this week we can give a good victory to Steelers’ nation, a very well-deserved victory. Hopefully we can get things back on track.”
Villanueva had said during the week that he’d unintentionally thrown his teammates under the bus in Chicago. He said Sunday he’d spoken to Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin about it during the week and felt better afterward.
“I had a conversation with Coach Tomlin,” Villanueva said. “Coach Tomlin and I have a very good personal relationship. ... To wake up in the morning and see the face of Coach Tomlin and the face of a soldier pitted against each other is completely unacceptable from the media. To use me as a tool to push agendas and to push messages, that’s completely unacceptable. I understand that you guys are trying to make your money. But in our locker room, we’re trying to win football games. So we’re trying to do the best we can.
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“I think after I had that conversation with Coach Tomlin, everything’s been solved. Teammates’ issues remaining, lingering, sort of beefs and whatnot — I can’t control that stuff. I’m very close to my values and how the team perceives me. And so I’m pretty happy to be a member of Steelers nation, trying to represent the city of Pittsburgh.”
Tomlin said he thought his players “responded in the appropriate way” to the week’s circumstances. Asked whether there had been lingering issues to address from last week’s handling of the anthem, Tomlin said: “You don’t think?”
And was he pleased with Sunday’s handling of the situation?
“Based on the result of the game,” Tomlin said, “yes.”
The Steelers had depicted their decision not to participate in the anthem in Chicago as nonpolitical. Yet that was a difficult case to make, since it came two days after President Trump had called on NFL owners to fire players who protested by refusing to stand for the anthem.
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“We knew what we were going to do” this Sunday, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. “We were coming out and we were standing together. And that’s all there is to it.”
Villanueva said he “can’t put a grade” on what the Steelers did this weekend.
“You can’t say good or bad because there’s a lot of feelings involved in this whole debate,” he said. “There’s a lot of points of view. There’s a lot of miscommunication from the media and from what the players hear and whatnot. I love my teammates. I love this organization. I love Coach Tomlin. I love the offensive line. I love coming to work every single day. I really do. I enjoy being a Steeler. It’s not hard for me to come to work every single day. And so I think that we did the best that we could. I think that in the end, we were able to come together and we were able to put a good performance on the field. And that’s all that matters.”
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The attention clearly made Villanueva uncomfortable.
“I think in life, you’re not prepared for a lot of things,” he said. “I don’t think you’re prepared to have a kid. I don’t think you’re prepared to get married. I don’t you’re prepared to start one day in the NFL. I think it’s one of those things you have to take in stride and do your best, stick to your family values, stick to the things that you’ve learned throughout your life and try to make the best possible decision. The last week has been pretty stressful in terms of the media reaction to everything, to my statement, to how the Steelers tried to handle the situation last week. And it was never my intention.
“But I always think that I try to do what’s right,” Villanueva said. “I make mistakes just like everybody else. I got a stupid personal foul today. I’m not a hero. I didn’t do anything in the military that was outstanding. If you were to compare me to my peers, I was just average at best. ... It’s just a very unfortunate chain of events that I think I tried to handle the best I can. When they’re so big and so wide and they leave the sports media and go into the national media — the media can make you whatever they want. They can build you. They can take you down. They can do whatever.”
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It was a good day for the Steelers, football-wise. That’s what mattered to them, they said.
“It’s awesome that we can get back to what we do,” Villanueva said. “It’s different, I’m sure, for some players because they have certain feelings. But at the end, we’re getting on the same page. We’re not letting anything outside of this locker room distract us and what it is that we’re trying to accomplish. We’re trying to get everything right. We’re trying to honor our fans. We’re trying to honor every single person that loves the Steelers. And I think today we got a step closer toward that.”
Read more from The Post:
Malcolm Jenkins: What protesting players like me want to do next
Trump thrusts NFL players into a debate that isn’t going away
Baltimore lies at center of national anthem debate
Player protests and Trump’s responses get low marks in new poll
Quietly and with no fanfare, O.J. Simpson is released from prison
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