Taking A Knee

[JasonTX]

Originally Posted by ppaltice

When Team A tells me that they are taking a knee, I tell Team A that they still have to block and Team B to stop on the whistle. I don't want a situation where A bobbles the snap and Team B would have had a chance to regain possession, but we told them to play differently.

I agree this is good. I usually don't say anything and I officiate the "kneel down" just like any other play. It is not our job to get involved with a play call because no matter what play is called at the line, the offense has every right to audible to another play.

For those others who get involved and shut it down. What do you do if the offense calls, "pitch right"? The defense hears it and aligns their formation to cover the run. The offense snaps and throw a deep pass for a TD. Anybody shutting that down for deceiving the defense into thinking it was going to be a run. Lesson for the defense. Don't listen to the play calling and be ready to go 100% on each play.

I had a game once where it was a "kneel down" call, but the snap was muffed. Luckily for the defense they were firing out at the snap and recovered the ball. Next play they scored the game winning TD. Imagine if I would have intervened and told them not to play.