NFL Note - New England Patriots Cooks, Brandin

Sep 25, 2017 - 7:21 AM WR Brandin Cooks began his day as one of the players getting booed by the Gillette crowd for being one of 16 players taking a knee during the national anthem. He ended it by being the hero, catching his fifth pass and second touchdown of the day (25 yards) -- and getting it done by keeping both feet inbounds with some nifty tightrope walking.

Cooks, talking about his taking a knee, said it was done to support his "brothers" and added, "A lot of people think we're disrespecting the flag and the military, but my father was a marine, my uncle was a marine, family fought in the Vietnam war -- I have the utmost respect for the men and women that fight for our freedom.

"So that's the first statement I want to make -- and quite frankly I feel (conflicted); I have no courage to do something like that and I feel the magnitude that they're fighting across the world for our freedom; so that's not the message we're sending. The message is we just want respect and unity and there's only so many ways you can do it."