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Texans owner Bob McNair apologized has apologized twice for remarking earlier this month to NFL owners, "We can't have the inmates running the prison." He even suggested that he wasn't referring to the players and their anthem protests but instead was talking about the league office.

On Tuesday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones supported McNair's claim.

"Bob is one of the absolute most admired people, as far as the ownership, there is in the NFL, and I know what Bob's stature is in Houston," Jones told CBS Sports Radio's 105.3 The Fan's Shan and RJ show, via the Houston Chronicle. "He brought football back to Houston. It's so unfortunate that he's had this happen for him. But he's really a guy that has a lot of influence and I admire him greatly. I heard him. He did not and was not talking about the players. ...

"This is really unfortunate the way that it came out. He's the first to tell you that he misused words, but it's so unfortunate because he's a high-quality individual."

It's safe to assume that Texans' pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney doesn't believe McNair when he says he wasn't talking about the players as "inmates." Clowney's costume for the team's Halloween party: An orange jumpsuit.

The Houston Chronicle's Aaron Wilson tweets that Clowney was not, in fact, mocking McNair.

Because "random guy in an orange jumpsuit" is always a popular Halloween get up.

Jones, however, points to McNair's actions during the preseason, after Hurricane Harvey ravaged the Houston area, as proof that the Texans' owner cares about his players.

"Bob was absolutely a hero when we had our preseason game," Jones said of McNair wanting to cancel the Cowboys-Texans preseason game so players could be with their families. "Boy, all the players wanted to go home, which they should, and it was natural. But Bob McNair says, 'I don't care what it costs,' because the owner is responsible. The team that doesn't cause the game to happen is responsible for all the money that might be lost for not having the game.

"And Bob says, 'I don't care what it costs. I'll pay it. My players want to go home. I want them to go home to Houston.' I just can't tell you how magnanimous he is. He's one of the really great benefactors to Houston and to anybody that's been around him."

One thing has nothing to do with the other; an employer can care about his employees while also viewing them as something less than equals. That's how the employer-employee dynamic works. It also explains why many Texans' players took a knee to protest McNair before Sunday's game against the Seahawks, and why some remained angry Sunday evening.

"I'm still upset," Rookie running back D'Onta Foreman, who left practice Friday after hearing McNair's remarks said, via the Houston Chronicle's Aaron Wilson. "I still feel like some things shouldn't be said, but you got to deal with it. I was upset. I feel like my family that's been supporting the Texans since they started the franchise and me growing up watching this franchise, a comment like that is definitely going to hit home with me."