Diggs looking away from the American flag during the National Anthem<\/a> \u2014 though it seems more like a pre-game ritual than a political protest akin to former quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling stance.<\/p>\nPrior to kickoff during the Patriots’ 10-7 win over the Denver Broncos in the AFC Conference Championship, CBS cameras caught the 32-year-old similarly looking towards the crowd as country singer Nathaniel Rateliff sang the anthem at Mile High.<\/p>\n
At the time, social media was quickly flooded with viewers criticizing Diggs for what they deemed was a disrespectful act.<\/p>\n
Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n
“Stefon Diggs turning his back to the anthem and flag is hilarious. What a moral high ground he has,” one person commented, while another questioned: “Why did Stefon Diggs do jumping jacks with his back to the flag during the National Anthem? Very disrespectful!!”<\/p>\n
A third chimed in, “Just watched Diggs turn his back on the National Anthem. Wonder if he realizes this accomplishes nothing but make him look stupid.”<\/p>\n
Less than an hour before he ruffled some feathers during the Anthem on Super Sunday, Diggs gave one final pre-game speech to his teammates. “Bring it in tight. Bring it in tight now,” he yelled as Patriots players began huddling around him.<\/p>\n
“Come on now, come on,” he began. “It was about going to the Super Bowl. 90% of them motherf—— said, ‘I want to win a Super Bowl, not just go,’ man. I ain’t come here for nothing, man. It’s all about us. It ain’t about them.<\/p>\n
![\"Stefon](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_GettyImages-2251885007.jpg\")
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Stefon Diggs has drawn backlash for his National Anthem antics in the past(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
“High energy, execution, and let’s be us. And I hate to say it. I heard the whispers, bro. Nobody liked us, but I liked us. And the last thing I’m going to leave y’all with is we all we got, we all we need. Gang on three.”<\/p>\n
Since inking a three-year, $63.5 million contract with the Patriots last March, Diggs has swiftly solidified himself as one of the most vocal leaders inside New England’s locker room.<\/p>\n
The veteran wideout has additionally cemented himself as one of quarterback Drake Maye’s most reliable targets, hauling in 11 catches for 73 yards and a touchdown over three playoff games entering the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NFL fans ruthlessly slammed Stefon Diggs after the New England Patriots star wide receiver appeared to “turn his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":740017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,249,6,531,505],"class_list":{"0":"post-740016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england-patriots","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-stefon-diggs","12":"tag-super-bowl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116040225998701979","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Stefon](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_GettyImages-2260592034.jpg\")
<\/p>\n