Manning told Sander to be alert in case he fell down and got back up

He absolutely slid down. Look, he does it every time a defender gets that close to protect himself. If he was the type of QB who had no history of doing that and was good at evading the rush, I'd be far more likely to buy that he just slipped and fell. But not when it's him. No way.

neuronet said:

Seriously?! That's freaking crazy.....

I see it as a heads-up play on his part, something if Brady did it we'd say was brilliant. Hats off to him for taking advantage of the situation when the chips were down.

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Yeah similar to Rodgers catching defenses with 12 men on the field.

You have to touch him down in that situation. Whistle to whistle. If the ref doesn't whistle the play over then the play is still happening.

One of my favorite Brady passes came when he fell backwards and threw a 1st down while sitting on the field. I couldn't find a clip of that play, but I did find this one.


Situational awareness.

The play is called " I've fallen and I might get up."

sambam94 said:

I doubt it was by design. What I think happened is that he felt a little pressure and slid forward to avoid any possible hit. He then realized that no one was around him so he popped up and threw it. Play should have been dead as soon as he slid.

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It looked just like any number of other turtlings he's done this season. It was intentional. It's what he does at this point to protect himself. You can look on their forums where even the Donk fans mock him for it.

I do think getting back up was an ad lib, though.

Deus Irae said:

Manning clearly gave himself up. You have to be blind not to see that. However, since Manning is now claiming what he's claiming, 31 teams should make sure to go up to the officiating crew before playing Manning in a game and say:

"When we drill Manning while he's on the ground, remember that he claims that getting up after "falling down" is in his playbook, so we'd better not draw a penalty."

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Agree 100%, but the execution might be a problem. You have to DRILL Pay-me enough that he's hurting, but not enough that they pull him and put in Osweiler, otherwise they might score a little.

neuronet said:

Seriously?! That's freaking crazy.....

I see it as a heads-up play on his part, something if Brady did it we'd say was brilliant. Hats off to him for taking advantage of the situation when the chips were down.

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bad precedent. I'll let sambam94 say better than I can.

sambam94 said:

the problem is that someone might not be close enough to touch him right away if he slides down after feeling a bit if pressure. Like I said, sets a bad precedent. What if a pitt defender cleaned his clocked as manning was just starting to get up yesterday? Would there be any doubt it would have been a personal foul? He slid down, play over...but then he gets to get back up again and throw it when he realizes no one is actually close enough to touch him after he ridiculously folds after feeling just a tiny bit of pressure?

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RayClay said:

Of course, he could touch him down. I don't begrudge anyone to try something that might work.

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It is faster to fall than stop yourself and reach. Since the play is not over that tenth of a second could be the difference between a sack and a TD pass.

363839 said:

I saw the play in question. Defender never touched him..ever.
Peyton just got back up after falling down and made his play but I saw nothing that shows he was down other then the fact that he fell down evading a rush...this isn't college so that does not count.(as far as I know)
Sorry guys.
Lets just stick with inserting clever lyrics in the Nationwide jingle.

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The QB just set the precedent to be hit after giving himself up. Since it may be a 15 yard late hit, the defender might as well hurt him. Man, was that a bad precedent.

For Manning's sake I hope he retires.

iam sure the league will address the play officiating

Concussion Protocol said:

Ridiculous non-whistle. There was a half second where he clearly turtled. End of play.

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If this happens next week, I hope our D hits him hard. I'll take the 15.

everlong said:

I was only joking when I fell down. (Sung to the Nationwide tune.)

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Uh, too many syllables.

This play really really pissed me off. I shouldn't let it, but it does.

The whole freakin' point of special protection for quarterbacks is to prevent injury. Defenders have it beat into their heads not to hit a QB who surrenders himself. So Manning games the system by doing a sort of half slide only to pop back up. This creates a dangerous situation where defenders have to figure out "gee was that a slide?"

Manning has been assuming the fetal position all season long when the pocket collapses, and I have no problem with that because every time I saw it the play was whistled dead. But now the Patriots defenders have to wonder if he is sliding or just "sort of" sliding. I'm sure we'll get hit with a 15 yard penalty if anyone looks at him cross eyed.

neuronet said:

Would be really useful to see a compilation vid. Don't recall him doing this before.

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He has been assuming the fetal position on the ground without being touched all season long. This is the first time I know of that he got up and played on.

neuronet said:

Seems smart play on his part, just playing to the whistle.

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It's bullcrap. A defender can easily get flagged for unnecessary roughness even if the hit comes before the whistle.

BelichickFan said:

Just touch the f*cker down and be done with it. If this is what he's resorting to . . . LMFAO.

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It's not that simple. What do you do if you're a defender and you see him take a dive to the ground then pop back up? "Just touching him" won't get the job done in that situation.

If you let up, he gets away and throws for 25 yards. If you nail him, you get flagged.

SVN said:

iam sure the league will address the play officiating

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Pats lose a 1 and a 3rd.

I'm willing to accept one roughing the passer call just to see one of the Pats defensive lineman hit him so hard he never pulls this crap again.

pheenix11 said:

I'm willing to accept one roughing the passer call just to see one of the Pats defensive lineman hit him so hard he never pulls this crap again.

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Shouldn't be a penalty if he gets leveled after standing up again in this situation, with no whistle. Take his ass out.

363839 said:

Lets just stick with inserting clever lyrics in the Nationwide jingle.

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HGH is on my side.
Rules are made for me to break.
Tea-bagging is lots of fun.
All my fans are clueless twits.
Happy feet is my trademark.
My defense has carried me.
Manning face is all I have.
NFL makes rules for me.
My wife uses HGH.
One and done's my legacy.
Daddy set things up for me.

memento said:

You have to touch him down in that situation. Whistle to whistle. If the ref doesn't whistle the play over then the play is still happening.

One of my favorite Brady passes came when he fell backwards and threw a 1st down while sitting on the field. I couldn't find a clip of that play, but I did find this one.


Situational awareness.

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But that is very different. He did not fall to the ground to avoid a hit. He was accidentally tripped by his own feet.

I've read the thread. Lots of good thoughts.
Here's where I come down:
1) As a matter of principle, I have no problem with a player or team using the rules to their maximum advantage. The case of the formations that Belichick put in, that befuddled Harbaugh and that arguably saved (and certainly "helped save") the Pats in the Ravens game in the Divisional Round last year come to mind.

2) By "strategically falling down" without being touched in order to confuse the defense, one can argue that Manning is doing just that: he's using a rule to his maximum advantage. In this case, he falls to the side and not forward, so he's not obviously "sliding."

3) HOWEVER, the problem with what Manning is doing is that he is, IMO, abusing a rule that's in place to protect a QB. He should be subject to the same rules that would apply to a player who falls to the ground downfield; i.e., you're allowed to hit him as long as you don't do it in a way that an Official could call "unnecessarily rough" since he's already on the ground. It's probably safest just to touch him, unless he is obviously trying to get up to run, in which case "anything goes."

4) To me the bottom line is that this suggests a need for a rule change. Both to protect the QB and to not make the defenders' job more impossible than it already is, the rule should be that anytime a QB goes to the ground behind the line of scrimmage (i.e., any part of his body besides his feet or hands touches the ground...he can use his hand to steady himself if he's starting to fall), the play is automatically blown dead, even if the QB stumbles as he goes after an errant snap while in the shotgun and falls to the ground seven or eight yards away from any Defender. We can call it the "Peyton Flop Rule."