{"id":52760,"date":"2026-09-29T11:45:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T15:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=52760"},"modified":"2026-09-29T11:45:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T15:45:55","slug":"nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/09\/nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god.html","title":{"rendered":"NFL Stars Put Faith Front and Center as Players, Coaches Give Glory to God"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_52766\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52766\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/09\/Bo-Nix_credit-SNFonNBC-X.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-52766\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/09\/Bo-Nix_credit-SNFonNBC-X.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-52766\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">@SNFonNBC \/ X<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Faith was front and center across the NFL on Sunday as players and coaches from several teams publicly praised God, prayed for teammates and spoke about their trust in Jesus during key moments.<\/p>\n<p>The declarations came from different stadiums and teams, but the message was remarkably similar.<\/p>\n<p>After the Denver Broncos defeated the Dallas Cowboys, safety Talanoa Hufanga immediately pointed to God after a standout performance that included two interceptions and a touchdown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHonestly, man, all praise to God,\u201d Hufanga told NBC\u2019s Melissa Stark. \u201cMan, all glory to God that I go out there and play and have some fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Quarterback Bo Nix picked up the theme immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut like he said, all glory to God,\u201d Nix <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SNFonNBC\/status\/2104423282271490376\">said<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s really good. He\u2019s given us this platform. He\u2019s given us this opportunity and our job is just to make the most of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hufanga then added one more word: \u201cBelieve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That response wasn\u2019t limited to Denver.<\/p>\n<p>Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson also spoke openly about prayer after his team pulled off a dramatic victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Brazil. Jackson completed a long pass with one second remaining to put his team in position for the winning field goal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe crazy thing about it [was] I had no doubt in my mind,\u201d Jackson told reporters afterward. \u201cI prayed to Jesus. I prayed to God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jackson said he already felt as if the game had been won, so he trusted kicker Tyler Loop to finish the job.<\/p>\n<p>Faith also surfaced in a more sobering moment in Washington, where Commanders linebacker Leo Chenal suffered a neck injury and was transported to a hospital. The team later received encouraging news that Chenal had movement in all his extremities.<\/p>\n<p>After Chenal\u2019s injury, Kain Medrano stepped in and intercepted a pass in the fourth quarter, returning it for a touchdown. Even then, his attention remained on his injured teammate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously, we lost a brother,\u201d Medrano said, \u201cbut we\u2019re all praying for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In New York, Jameis Winston also praised God after safety Jevon Holland made a game-sealing interception with 24 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElated, praise God, so happy and grateful,\u201d Winston said while celebrating Holland\u2019s play.<\/p>\n<p>In New York, Giants coach John Harbaugh was just as direct when he opened his postgame news conference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPraise and glory to our Savior,\u201d Harbaugh said before turning his attention to his players and their performance.<\/p>\n<p>Public expressions of Christian faith have long been part of the NFL, from postgame prayers at midfield to players pointing toward heaven after touchdowns and thanking Jesus during interviews.<\/p>\n<p>Sunday offered yet another vivid example of that long-running pattern.<\/p>\n<p>For Nix, Hufanga, Jackson, Winston and others, faith wasn\u2019t something reserved for church or kept separate from football. Instead, whether celebrating a victory, processing an injury or reflecting on a rare opportunity, they chose to talk openly about God with millions of football fans watching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Faith was front and center across the NFL on Sunday as players and coaches from several teams publicly praised God, prayed for teammates and spoke about their trust in Jesus during key moments. The declarations came from different stadiums and teams, but the message was remarkably similar. After the Denver Broncos defeated the Dallas Cowboys,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":52766,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NFL Stars Put Faith Front and Center as Players, Coaches Give Glory to God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NFL players and coaches put faith front and center Sunday, openly praising God, praying for teammates and giving glory to Jesus.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/09\/nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NFL Stars Put Faith Front and Center as Players, Coaches Give Glory to God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NFL players and coaches put faith front and center Sunday, openly praising God, praying for teammates and giving glory to Jesus.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/09\/nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-29T15:45:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/09\/Bo-Nix_credit-SNFonNBC-X.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beliefnet Contributors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NFL Stars Put Faith Front and Center as Players, Coaches Give Glory to God","description":"NFL players and coaches put faith front and center Sunday, openly praising God, praying for teammates and giving glory to Jesus.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/09\/nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NFL Stars Put Faith Front and Center as Players, Coaches Give Glory to God","og_description":"NFL players and coaches put faith front and center Sunday, openly praising God, praying for teammates and giving glory to Jesus.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/09\/nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god.html","og_site_name":"Idol Chatter","article_published_time":"2026-09-29T15:45:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/09\/Bo-Nix_credit-SNFonNBC-X.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Beliefnet Contributors","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/09\/nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/09\/nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god.html","name":"NFL Stars Put Faith Front and Center as Players, Coaches Give Glory to God","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/09\/nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/09\/nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/09\/Bo-Nix_credit-SNFonNBC-X.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-29T15:45:55+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-29T15:45:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d"},"description":"NFL players and coaches put faith front and center Sunday, openly praising God, praying for teammates and giving glory to Jesus.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/09\/nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/09\/nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/09\/nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/09\/Bo-Nix_credit-SNFonNBC-X.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/09\/Bo-Nix_credit-SNFonNBC-X.jpg","width":1200,"height":900,"caption":"@SNFonNBC \/ X"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/09\/nfl-stars-put-faith-front-and-center-as-players-coaches-give-glory-to-god.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NFL Stars Put Faith Front and Center as Players, Coaches Give Glory to God"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/","name":"Idol Chatter","description":"Beliefnet Entertainment blog, TV blog, Movie blog, Religion in entertainment blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d","name":"Brandy Grenier","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e53\/e53f6ea4c6b15081d4df68e2d7d7750ex96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e53\/e53f6ea4c6b15081d4df68e2d7d7750ex96.jpg","caption":"Brandy Grenier"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/author\/bgrenier"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/516"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52760"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52769,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52760\/revisions\/52769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}