As Comments Shine Light On Sports and Religion, Lions' Glover Quin Tries To Clarify 'God's Plan' Remarks On Jordy Nelson

By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby

Glover Quin has caught tons of flack in the last 24 hours for comments he made about Packers receiver Jordy Nelson's season-ending knee injury.

Quin talked for several minutes on Monday about how he believed that the injury had happened for a reason, and that this was all "God's plan." If Nelson hadn't been hurt in Sunday's preseason game, he would have been hurt the next time he stepped on the field because that was God's plan, according to Quin.

Since then, Twitter has been up in arms over the vastly-shortened quote from Quin that appeared in many headlines and tweets right afterwards. On Tuesday, he attempted to clarify some of those comments.

"What is meant to be will be. That's what I believe. That's the way I live my life," Quin said. "God is in control; that's my belief. That doesn't have to be nobody else's belief. I'm not saying that, so I don't understand why everybody's jumping on everybody for what they believe."

He explained that there have many times in his own life where something negative has happened – an injury, for example – and he had to remind himself that God wanted him to learn from the situation.

Many took that to mean that Quin felt that Nelson deserved his injury. But according to Quin's philosophy, he would have said the same thing had it been his own knee that was injured.

Some of the social media backlash included a tweet from Brian Baumgartner (an actor from "The Office") who called Quin a "moron" for the comments. In a subsequent tweet – which Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers retweeted  – Baumgartner said it was "absurd" that Quin would have the "audacity" to believe that God picked which players to injure.

"Someone called me a moron, called me an idiot," Quin said. "A lot of people said that, which I don't understand what gives somebody else the right to call me a moron or an idiot because that's the way I believe. But if he feels like I'm a moron or idiot, that's fine."

Quin expressed his respect for Rodgers, even though the quarterback had retweeted some of Baumgartner's comments. He also continued to express his sympathy for Nelson, who the Packers officially announced on Monday would miss the entire 2015 season.

This situation has brought into a very bright spotlight the prospect of religion and sports, and how the two interact. According to Quin, the two are intertwined, because prayer is a huge part of many NFL locker rooms, and because players often rely on their faith to get through tough injuries or other negative situations.

Above all else, Quin re-emphasized that his personal beliefs did not imply that he thought Nelson deserved what he got.

"I don't mean that God particularly said, 'I want to take Jordy Nelson out,'" Quin said. "I didn't say all that. I just believe that what is meant to be will be."

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