Giants owner: NFL can't 'get baited by' Trump's criticisms

New York Giants co-owner John Mara wants the NFL to be measured in its response to continuous attacks from President Donald Trump, the latest coming after the league decided not to require players to stand for the national anthem.

"I'm shocked," Mara said of Trump's criticisms, according to Dan Duggan of NJ Advance Media. "I don't have any reaction to that."

He added, "I think we're all aware that's going to continue, but we can't allow ourselves to get baited by that. We're going to do what we think is right."

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Trump called the NFL's decision "total disrespect for our country" in a tweet Wednesday, before again calling for players to stand in a second tweet later that same day in which he also tagged the league's official Twitter account:

While Mara wants players to stand for "The Star-Spangled Banner," he understands that a dialogue with players regarding the social issues they're protesting will be a more effective way of handling the matter than forcing them to stand.

"We all want everybody to stand," Mara said. "But as far as I'm concerned, I want the players to stand because they want to stand, as opposed to me having to tell them that."

"Nobody wants the protests to continue because it has had an effect on business and it has provoked a huge emotional response from our fans and it's not a popular position to be in right now," he added. "But I think all of us - or just about all of us - are in agreement that we need to continue to have this dialogue with the players and come up with specific plans to address some of their issues and some of our issues going forward."

Trump has engaged in a war of words with the NFL world ever since he called for team owners to "fire" any protesters at a September rally in Alabama.