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In American football, a quarterback kneel, also called taking a knee, genuflect offense, or victory formation occurs when the quarterback immediately kneels to the ground after receiving the snap. It is primarily used to run the clock down, either at the end of the first half or the game itself, in order to preserve a lead or a win. Although it generally results in a loss of a yard and uses up a down, it minimizes the risk of a fumble, which would give the other team a chance to score.
Sportsmanship
The play has become accepted as a winners' privilege (thus the nickname "Victory Formation"), as well as a way of protecting players from injury.
The quarterback kneel allows a team that has overwhelmingly defeated an opponent who could have no realistic chance of winning the game in its final minutes to be merciful and not be accused of running up the score, or at least a star player's statistics. Taking a knee also reduces the risk of unnecessary injury in what is already a violent contact sport because there are other, more injury-prone actions that would basically accomplish the same thing: the quarterback can lay down and wait for a defensive player to down him, or hand the ball off to a running back and have him lay down. In addition, taking a knee is a viable tactic for running out the clock.
The occasion is more of a ceremony or formality. In the NFL and NFL Europe, once the last snap inside the 40-second play clock has been taken, both teams consider the game over and run out onto the field to shake hands.
On the rare occasions when defenses have tried to disrupt the play, it has been taken as a cheap shot. Not only is it against the rules to tackle a downed player, the quarterback is especially vulnerable to injury in this situation.
However, in Canadian football or Arena Football, which use slightly different rules taking a knee with time left is not really that viable a strategy. In the CFL, a quarter must end with a play, and in Arena Football, teams must gain yardage in the final minute to keep the clock running.
The Miracle at the Meadowlands
In the last minute of a game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles at Giants Stadium on November 19, 1978, the Giants had the ball at their own 29-yard line, leading 17-12, with 31 seconds left. The Eagles had no timeouts left, and everyone assumed the game was over as quarterback Joe Pisarcik kneeled on second down.
But since the Eagles' defense had been blitzing to try to jar the ball loose, Giants' offensive coordinator Bob Gibson called for the next play to be a handoff to fullback Larry Csonka. He and Pisarcik had been feuding over whether the young quarterback should have been allowed to call his own plays, and the players, especially Csonka, begged Pisarcik to change it to another kneel. But he feared the wrath of his coach and stuck with the call from the bench.
The handoff was bobbled and fell on the turf, where Eagles cornerback Herman Edwards returned it for the winning touchdown. The loss of a game in a situation where victory seemed assured cost Gibson his job three days later. He has never worked in football again.
The next week, the Giants and the Eagles debuted a new formation to guard against the possibility of another return when kneeling. Coaches elsewhere in the league, mindful of Gibson's fate, dropped any lingering reservations they had and ordered quarterbacks to always kneel in that situation. And so it has remained ever since.
References
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