Should the NFL do away "the Gentlemen's agreement" on kneel down plays?

Tampa Bay may have opened up a a whole new controversy.




Kneel before Zod....

I've never liked the kneel down but the issue is how would you enforce the rule? Okay you cant take a knee but you can run a pitch and have the RB just go down...or hand it off and go down. I dont think much would change.

Having said that if Eli had fumbled and TB scored to tie it up...we'd be having a different discussion.

Originally posted by Sjceruti:

I've never liked the kneel down but the issue is how would you enforce the rule? Okay you cant take a knee but you can run a pitch and have the RB just go down...or hand it off and go down. I dont think much would change.

Having said that if Eli had fumbled and TB scored to tie it up...we'd be having a different discussion.

Make like arena football? Don't stop the clock unless you gain positive yards.

I'm indifferent honestly.

Originally posted by Sjceruti:
I've never liked the kneel down but the issue is how would you enforce the rule? Okay you cant take a knee but you can run a pitch and have the RB just go down...or hand it off and go down. I dont think much would change.

Having said that if Eli had fumbled and TB scored to tie it up...we'd be having a different discussion.

Exactly. Nothing wrong with how things are now. If a team wants the ball back? Play better or use your timeouts more sparingly.

no debate, nothing will change and it shouldn't. I'm sure the Giants had a hint that they were gonna do that and now the entire NFL knows. Expect that s**t from the bucs. losers.

Those guys should have tried to get Eli Manning down when he was lighting them up for 500 yards, not when the game is over and he is kneeling down. Even though, the Bucs have a right to play for the ball. This isn't golf or tennis. Nothing gentlemanly about football.

Burning the clock is a part of the game and a big part of the style we play (low scoring defensive struggles with a power run game).

You play football the whole 60 minutes.

No, a team should be allowed to kneel

Clock should stop on a kneel down. Teams should have to run a play.

If you cant get it done before the kneel ritual you dont deserve it. Nothing will, or should change. Bucs should show some class in a loss, but that was classless. I understand playing whistle to whistle, and for the full 60 minutes and all that Jazz, but if a team gets to start the kneel down ritual on you, you lost, its over. Accept it and move on.

Kneeling down is no different than the QB falling down and cocooning the ball. Why risking injuries when there is no real reason? I think the rules and etiquettes are fine the way they are. The other team had three timeouts and chances to get the ball back. That should be enough.

Originally posted by saj4423:
Clock should stop on a kneel down. Teams should have to run a play.

I disgree 100%. The reason last drives for teams down and without timeouts is so exciting is because we know its the last drive. It adds an element of pressure, as well excitment to the closing of a game.

The only thing doing away with kneel downs would do is force teams to run the ball at the end of the game. Sure you may have that fumble and recovery once in a blue moon, But it makes that last drive less exciting because there is still an "opportunity" no mater how minute, to still get the ball back. Not only that but I could see it causing alot of drama and heated tempers at the end of games. Defenses being overly ambitious to try to get a strip, and injurys and fights at the end of games etc.

"I was not aware of any gentleman's agreement!"













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(meanwhile in New Orleans.... er...... Sean Payton's house)

To be honest, I don't see what the big controversy was.

I can understand if Eli took a knee, and then they gave him this huge shot, and hit him hard when he was down..

In contrast, Eli snapped the ball, the Buccaneers surged forward, the Giants were surprised, and Eli fell backwards. On the ground, the Buccaneers just tapped him down.

Sure, it's a gentlemen's agreement that teams let up at the QB kneeldown, but these are professional NFL teams trying to win. They're not doing it with malice and trying to injure or maim the QB. They're trying to force a fumble, deep in enemy territory, and get the ball back before time expires.

I wonder what happens when the Bucs are leading and have the ball J Freeman takes a knee and gets Obliterated what will the Bucs say then?