Pittsburgh Steelers player Maurkice Pouncey honored Eric Kelly on his helmet Sunday against the Broncos.
Pouncey took the field against Denver wearing Kelly’s name on the back of his helmet after most of the team wore Antwon Rose Jr.’s name last week. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
According to TribLive.com, Kelly was a Pittsburgh police officer killed in the line of duty back in 2009 while responding to a call about two other officers being killed. You can see a photo of Pouncey’s helmet in the tweet below.
Maurkice Pouncey honors fallen police officer Eric Kelly for Steelers game against Broncos https://t.co/1OClG9t76F pic.twitter.com/FT5WC5jFa9
— ????️dubvLIVE.com????????➡️???????? (@dubvNOW) September 20, 2020
This is a classy move from Pouncey. Last week, the majority of the Steelers wore Antwon Rose Jr.’s name on their helmets, and that’s caused some issues. Rose was killed by Pittsburgh police in 2018 after police stopped his vehicle because it matched the description of a drive-by shooting suspect, according to CBS Sports.
In the aftermath, Pouncey said he should have done more research, and then opted to wear Kelly’s name.
Given how the entire NFL seems to be all in on the social justice trend, you have to applaud Pouncey for breaking from the majority of the league.
Praising the police isn’t a popular action at all in sports right now. In fact, it might be the most unpopular thing you could do.
Yet, Pouncey didn’t hesitate to honor a police officer struck down while protecting and serving.
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Pouncey is also now the second Steelers player to do something of this nature. Alejandro Villanueva previously wore the name of war hero Alwyn Cashe on his helmet.
Steelers LT Alejandro Villanueva has the name Alwyn Cashe on the back of his helmet
Cashe was posthumousky awarded the Silver Star for heroism after his death at 35 while on duty in Iraqhttps://t.co/a4Pbp3UERU had said ALL players’ helmets would have Antwon Rose Jr’s name pic.twitter.com/UMqbxVo6mj
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) September 14, 2020
Good for Pouncey for taking a stand to honor a slain police officer. The NFL could use a little more of that.