NFL Season Opener
Plenty occurred in the opener of the 2018 NFL season. In this picture, Nick Foles #9 of the Philadelphia Eagles is sacked by Brian Poole #34 and Takkarist McKinley #98 of the Atlanta Falcons during the first quarter at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Sept. 6, 2018. Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

The 2018 NFL season kicked off Thursday night on NBC with the opener between Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons, and there was plenty happening on the night.

Before the game, Philadelphia R&B group Boyz II Men performed a rendition of the national anthem. The trio was wearing Eagles jerseys and they were met with applause as many on social media lauded their performance.

The attention was also toward any potential protests during the anthem. Since Colin Kaepernick controversially kneeled during the anthem in protest against racial inequality and violence back in 2016, many others have followed his lead.

After the political backlash that has followed since, the NFL announced a new policy in May that would penalize teams and players for protesting in any shape or form when the anthem was played. Players instead, could remain in the locker room during the anthem.

However, protests continued on the first day of 2018 preseason as the policy was put on hold in July when the players' union filed a grievance against the policy. The NFL and NFL Players Association are currently looking to reach a resolution.

But despite this, there were no notable protests at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. All the Falcons players stood for the anthem and it was the same case for nearly all the Eagles players as well. Only Philadelphia's Michael Bennett and Jay Ajayi took a seat toward the end of the anthem.

During the first day of preseason, Bennett had also walked out of the tunnel toward the bench during the anthem. Malcolm Jenkins, on the other hand, raised his fists that day as well as last season, but did not do the same on Thursday night.

According to USA Today, he instead wore a shirt that read "Ca$h bail = poverty trap" during the pregame warmups, as he is one of the players to have met with state representatives to push for criminal justice reform.

As for Kaepernick, his polarizing Nike commercial was scheduled to run during the season opener and most of the reaction to the first viewing was positive.

The commercial features the former quarterback voicing over a number of athletes, including himself, such as LeBron James, Serena Williams, Odell Beckham Jr., Eliud Kipchoge, Lacey Baker, and more. It will also air during tennis, college football and Major League Baseball events this week.

However, there were still staunch critics against the commercial.

As for the game itself, the Eagles are currently leading the Falcons 10-6 in the third quarter. However, they were 6-3 down at halftime and were booed by the home fans for the duration of the first half.

Having delivered a first championship since 1960 as well as their first-ever Super Bowl earlier this year, many on social media were perplexed as to how the home fans booed their team just one half after their accomplishment last season. Others were not surprised however.

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