Packers Address Fan Confusion During Anthem

The Green Bay Packers manhandled the Buffalo Bills on Sunday – but it wasn’t even the play on the field during the first shutout in eight years that raised the most eyebrows at Lambeau Field. During the national anthem, the team sported a red, white, and blue banner – with stars on the blue stripe. Many fans expressed confusion and frustration around the banner that looked similar to the flag – but Packers spokesman Aaron Popkey says the banner was not, in fact, meant to represent the American flag.

 Popkey says it supplemented three flags on the roof of the stadium and a flag carried by the color guard on the field, and that the team has used similar displays in the past when other pregame elements take up large portions of the field. The University of Wisconsin Marching Band performed the national anthem, with about two hundred band members taking up much of the field.