You’re calling him a coward for not dissing the flag or anthem. That’s not rational.
Any response other then standing at attention with your hat off is siding with those purposely disrespecting the Anthem and the Flag of our country. His answer to concede prior to the presentation of the Anthem is therefore a cop out. Has never been done before and should not ever be done again. There is a proper way to respect this country and those not respecting this country do not belong on the field taking the money from real citizens. So rationalize it how you will, what he did was wrong and and his smirk did not help.