Rules -- taking a knee

On Saturday a Montreal player gave himself up, taking a knee, then was levelled by 300 pounds of raw offensive lineman. No penalty.

A QB often takes a knee from victory position. Returners often take a knee in the endzone. After a late game interception, the the defensive player with the ball often intentionally gives himself up to avoid risk of fumble. Why are all these players allowed to take a knee but on Saturday the Montreal player was not?

Does anyone know the rule?

...a player shouldn't be handling that amount of raw meat, which obviously resulted in his collapse, I mean that's a lot of meat, 300 lbs...he should've been concentrating on the game and not preparing for the post-game bbq...don't think there's a rule governing it, it's just so obvious...

The raw meat was in fact the biggest guy on the cover team at full speed
force= mass x velocity. I don't want to contemplate how much force was absorbed.

So are you saying that it's obvious he shouldn't be hit, or are you saying you agree with Glen Suitor's statement that the player forgot he wasn't still in a US college game?

Also can you tell me whether there is a niche in the CFL web site (or elsewhere I guess) where questions about rules can be answered? Thanks

..I'm saying I don't remember the play...and only that the team owners and the CFLPA should refer to players as raw meat..

...there's no special place for rules discussions, the main forum is as good as any other...

Do you remember when this happened

I didn't see it but I would have had a stroke if I did

I think he is thinking of the Bombers game . The player touched his knee down accidentally but was not touched or contacted . Then just started walking around like he was going out for a coffee break .

It was funny but dangerous .

In this scenario the player was never contacted or touched so he is still okay to run but didn’t realize it .

...not saying it didn't happen, but if a returner caught the ball, then took a knee, stayed on his knee while he smiled to the camera, and was subsequently clocked by an opposing force*meat, laid flat out, the opposing protein projectile would be given a Objectionable Conduct penalty and possibly a game ejection if the action was flagrantly unsafe...

...the fact that neither of these things happened (that I can remember) means a) the returner's knee wasn't down (he was fooling taking the knee, and paid the fool's price) or b) the refs totally missed it...

He wasn’t in the end zone . He just started running thought his knee touched without contact and kept running then all of a sudden stopped .

It was the weirdest thing I ever saw live in the CFL .

He was confused and got hit legally for being wrong on the field . He was just stopped without a whistle and stood around behind blockers .

...understood, outside of the endzone...touching the knee down in the endzone would end the play...

…this…

...also explains why none of us saw this in the Montreal/Calgary game I guess...

I remember when O’Shea was special teams coach and he pulled a trick play that really *issed me off

Punt returner caught the ball in the endzone and pretended to take a knee…pretended to the point that he kept his knee maybe an inch off the turf. When the defenders let up and relaxed, the took off and gained maybe 40 yards.

That should not have been allowed…players let up to avoid injuries and would have been penalized maybe even fined had they drilled the returner into the turf

Maybe it needs to be a less “fake-able” signal (e.g., hold ball with two hands and touch to face guard).

You could always hold the ball 1 inch away from the facemask

Maybe an arm wave like for a fair catch and if you wave the play is automatically dead

…not Mike “Hamburglar” O’Shea!!! ;D

Or just make it that a clear motion to kneel is enough, even if the knee doesn’t touch the ground.

that's the guy :wink:

…and balance the football on your helmet…

That would work…as long as the play is dead