Kneel

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by fonzzy07

Had an incident today. Home team down by 6 with 45 seconds left. They onside and fail. Away team goes to take a kneel. The R tells players hands off its a kneel. The offense just stands up . Well sure enough they fumble the snap. Away team recovers. They end up driving it down to the 4 then run out of time. Do you tell players hands off for a kneel and if so does this seem like the right thing to do?

From what I've seen in Ontario, we tell the defense that the offense is taking a knee. The officials should and mostly do come in closer. If I'm R or U, I get quite close to the QB/C (~ 3 or 5 yards).

What is the purpose of taking a knee? I think one way of looking at it is that the offense is agreeing not to run a play. Why would they want to do that? They are agreeing not to run a play where they might score. However, if the offense mishandles the taking of a knee, I think the ball is live and Team B can go for it. Team A takes a knee if they're winning as a sportmanship thing. Team B is not winning, and therefore want the ball. If there is a fumble, B should be able to go for it, and that A players still need to be aware that B might hit them.

So no, I would not tell B "hands off". I just tell them that A is taking a knee. The purpose being that unless there is a fumble, not to contact A.

[MD Longhorn]

If the game is more than 1 score apart in score, I usually simply tell the defense - "If he takes a knee, don't do anything stupid," and tell QB, "If you're taking a knee, get right down immediately." I've never had a problem with this, and if the ball does come lose, I've not jeopardized anyone.

If the game is within 1 score, however, I don't tell anyone anything, while having R and U pinch in a bit.

I think the game situation dictates your actions enough that a simple answer to this question does not apply to all situations. If the game was one where teams were already getting chippy with each other, I might consider some of the more strongly worded suggestions above.

[Soonerump]

The one time my WH told a defense to relax, the qb was going to kneel, the QB comes up to the line of scrimmage and takes the snap and quick pitches it to the left and the guy ran for a 75 yard touchdown. Team A was ahead by 17 points before this happened, but wanted to get more points in case a playoff spot came down to points scored. After that my WH never told a defense that the offense was going to take a knee.