Eli Manning told Bucs he was taking a knee; Chris Snee will put knees to back of head

Eli Manning said this week that he alerted the Buccaneers that he was taking a knee before the final play of the game on Sunday. Additionally, Giants guard Chris Snee and defensive end Justin Tuck expressed varying frustration at the final play of the game.

By Will Brinson

Sep 19, 2012 at 11:05 am ET • 2 min read

Lots of NFL talk since Sunday afternoon has centered around the unwritten rules surrounding Greg Schiano's decision to send his Buccaneers defensive lineman after the Giants when Eli Manning was kneeling down to end the game, as well as the midfield incident between Schiano and Tom Coughlin afterwards.

Greg Schiano was technically within the rules when he sent Buccaneers defensive linemen after the Giants offensive line and Eli Manning on Sunday. That doesn't mean it wasn't a bush-league move though. Making it particularly tacky is the fact that Manning, in order to show good sportsmanship, alerted the Bucs that he was taking a knee prior to the snap.

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"I said as I walked up, 'hey we’re taking a knee' but obviously they were down and ready and had a feeling they were about to fire off," Manning told WFAN's Mike Francesca. "There’s nothing I can really do about it. I have to make sure I get the snap and the only thing I’m worried about right there is securing the ball and making sure we get the win."

Manning noted to Francesca that he was further upset because the Bucs linemen dove low at his offensive linemen's knees, something Manning called a "cheap shot."

He wasn't the only one upset. Giants guard Chris Snee sounded pretty cheesed at the Bucs move, telling the New York Daily News that the next time someone goes at his knee, his knee "is going into the back of his head."

"We'll just tighten up and just be ready for them to fire off," Snee said. "And I wouldn't change my reaction in any way. If a guy dives at my knees, my knee is going into the back of his head. That's what happened in the game and that's what will happen going forward."

Oh, so maybe Snee got a knee in anyway. Good for him. Because here's the other thing: the Bucs players didn't have to listen to their coach. That's what Justin Tuck would've done, had he been put in a similar situation by his coaching staff.

"If Perry Fewell told me to dive at a guy's knee, when we were losing, I would say 'No,'" Tuck said. "And that is just a man-on-man talking."

The debate about whether or not Schiano violated a rule is going to hang around for a while, and it'll be interesting to see how a) the Buccaneers approach the final snap of the game on Sunday, as well as b) how teams treat the Buccaneers when and if they're taking knees come the fourth quarter.

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