NFL 3 Up, 3 Down

[TruthSeeker]

I actually posed this question a few weeks ago regarding players intentionally not scoring. This is the first time I've ever seen anybody do it and full credit to Westbrook for having the brains to ice the win by flopping at the 1. As others have said his actions guaranteed victory...scoring would have given the Cowboys the ball back.

Talking of the Eagles...any chance we could trade the 49'rs 1st rounder to Philly for Westbrook and Shepherd

It turns out that it was one of his linemen (Right Guard, I think), that told him to do this like 3 times just before the play was run. Still have to give him full credit for actually kneeling on the 1.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Which has a greater chance of happening, a botched Eagles snap giving the Cowboys possession and then they score on a 99 yd drive.....or
scoring to get an 11 point lead forcing the cowboys to score on the reurn, get the onside kick and then kick a field goal.....?????
I vote for scoring the TD (sure points) and force them to score twice....

I don't believe that I've ever once seen a fumble recovered by the defensive team when the offense is taking a knee. I'd say the chances of that are well under 0.001%.

We've already seen multiple NFL games where teams have scored 2 TDs in the final 2 minutes. (Think "Heidi" for one which was 17 points in less than 2 minutes...)

 

[onegameatatime]

The TD+onsides kick+FG is MANY MANY more times more likely to happen.

I can only think of once EVER that a botched kneeldown has led to the losing team's winning, the Giants in the 80s.

Also, characterizing what the Eagles did as "running out the clock" is misleading. If they really needed to "run out the clock", i.e. run some real plays in hope of getting a first down to keep the clock running, then I think they do take the easy points instead. But the Eagles needed just three kneeldowns to prevent the Cowboys from touching the ball at all, thus giving them ZERO chance.

Re Giants in 80s, if you are thinking about the Pisarcek (sp?) play recovered by Herm Edwards, it was a complicated handoff when they should have knelt -- it was even more stupid than the New Orleans reverse a few weeks ago.

 

[onegameatatime]

In what circumstances would you do that ? Wouldn't you at least try and get the goal line stand instead of giving up a score ? I'm assuming you would only do this if you were not going to be more than 1 score behind afterwards

Dallas had used its 3 timeouts and the play went into the 2 minute warning, Philly just needed 3 kneel-downs. I suspect this sutuation will not come up much.