The defending Super Bowl Champions clawed their way back to the ledge after hanging perilously above the rocky ravine of an embarrassing 0-2 start. But an 81- yard heave to a grieving Victor Cruz or a key Corey Webster interception is not the top story around the league on this Week 2 Monday.
The sports world is instead focused on the game's final play. The operative word in that sentence is "play."
With a stopped clock at :05 seconds remaining, the Giants lined up for a "kneel down," which (by design) consists of the QB immediately placing his knee to the ground in order to run out the clock. No contact by a defender is needed for the play to be called dead. It can be executed by a winning team looking to seal a victory or simply as an act of strategic submission before the closing of the first half.
Now before I submit my stance on the debate, let's be clear. The kneel down is in fact an official play. At the end of the Giants upset of the previously undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, the New York bench needed to be ushered off the field after Tom Brady turned it over on downs on his final drive. Why? Because there were still waning seconds left on a currently paused clock. An official play (in this case a kneel down) needed to be executed successfully before the Giants could be considered official champions.
Ironically born of famous moments like the original "Miracle at the Meadowlands" it was instituted to keep winning teams from needing to put ball security at risk when their downs outweighed the time on the clock and/or the opponent's available timeouts.
Common practice (not regulation) is for the defending team to react the same way they do in the Pro Bowl: just stand in place.
Despite the "unwritten rule" that many are now citing, rookie HC Greg Schiano ordered his defensive lineman to lunge for the ball as Manning attempted to peacefully rest his knee on the carpet.
The result was multiple Giants lineman withstanding an unexpected lower body collision, a franchise QB getting smacked backwards, a heated exchange between head coaches, and no turnover.
The NFL, which places a high premium on player safety and swings a heavy hammer against those that violate the rules installed for protection, declined to censure Tampa Bay. No rules were offended, just feelings.
The argument has been made that because the entire interior of the Bucs' defense jolted downwards towards the O-line's knees that the aggressive tactic was merely a futile middle finger to a Giants team that snatched victory from pewter and red jaws of defeat. It's a reasonable argument until you take into account that lunging over the pile in an attempt to directly disarm Manning would have clearly been a penalty as a defender would have been forced to make some direct content with his head.
Instead, the Buccaneers sent a DB charging unblocked towards the falling Manning, in hopes that the ball would be jarred loose during his fall. Had this occurred, the Tampa defender would have been entirely in his rights to recover the ball and advance forward towards the end zone.
Was a Manning fumble likely? No. Was there a possibility of this occurring? Of course. Earlier in the same game, Giants C David Baas failed to properly execute a basic snap and caused Eli to fumble at the very onset of the play.
In a "win or go home" league, where do we draw the line about when to hustle through the whistle and when to lay down? How can a coach preach to his players about pushing 100% despite the odds and then call off the dogs because success is unlikely?
Had the score been reversed at the exact same field position with the same time left on the clock, no one would have expected New York to avoid the risk of injury and forfeit a shot at an unlikely completed TD pass.
Now I understand the logic that the kneel down is supposed to be treated as an unofficial play via some "gentlemen's agreement." I'm not attacking the validity of that unofficial pact. But unfortunately, if such a bond exists, then it itself undermines the very essence and structure of a professional football game.
This isn't about injuries or needless, barbarian violence. This is about simple math and measurement. A professional football game is 60 minutes in length. It is not 59 minutes. It is not 58. It is a full 60 minutes. If you are not allowed to run a defensive play after the first 59 minutes because the offense is kneeling, than in essence the game has become one minute shorter. The winning team did not have to fulfill their end of the bargain and manage to produce and sustain a lead at the 60-minute mark of regulation. It got to call it a day before finishing its work.
I'm all for player safety. I'm open to other options that don't contradict the nature of the game. For example, instituting that delay of game penalties do not stop the clock for winning offenses post the two-minute warning would allow teams to waive the option to play "needless" and risky offensive downs without using a hypocritical sham of a play.
This method also takes some theoretical power from winning offenses, as they would be forced to run a play if three missed downs worth of penalties would back them into the end zone for a safety.
This protects the integrity of the game without forcing defenses to lunge at ill-positioned/ill-prepared offensive lines.
Why is this important? Because unwritten rules are as useful as I.O.U.s . You can't subjectively designate which plays are playable and which aren't. It may seem cut and dry in this instance but it always does for a singular event. Only written guidelines provide the necessary structure needed to cry foul.
I don't want to see defenseless players get injured, but if you put your team in position to be outgunned, how can you ask a player to ignore an opportunity at access to the ball?
