If you stayed up to watch Monday Night Football, anemic as it was this last week, you no doubt noticed in the first quarter the Rams were driving on the Giants with a no huddle offense.

Then all of a sudden, Deon Grant and Jacquian Williams fall over on the field as the Rams were lining up to run a play.

No big deal you think? Maybe they both caught a cramp. But then as soon as falling down, Williams gets right back up almost as if he was saying to himself, “oops, It wasn’t my turn.”

Now I’m with the school of thought that says player safety is number one.  So I have to give the benefit of the  doubt that they both did have cramps, or got banged up and felt like they needed a play to regroup.

I’d agree with grant when he says, “How can another person that’s not in your body tell you when you’re faking  an injury?”

But when does it turn from player safety to a tactical decision by the defense?  Let’s be honest here by saying the Giants are not the first ones to use the “oh I have a cramp” tactic against an offense that is driving, although most of the time you’ll see it in the last two minutes of a half (ahem…the two minute drill) or if the defense is down and doesn’t have any timeouts left. They won’t be the last team to use it either.

You won’t hear a head coach say it, but this type of thing is discussed and used throughout all levels of football.  In college I can’t tell you the number of times a game was on the line and a team was driving, and someone on the defense goes down.

But the league came out Wednesday with a memo to all 32 teams warning of fines, suspensions, and even loss of draft picks if they determine that a player faked an injury during the game.

Personally I don’t think the penalty fits the crime in this case.  Currently if a player goes down with an injury that stops game play, that player has to go out for one play before coming back in, unless the team calls a timeout.

But I’d entertain the idea that they should treat it the same as a penalty in the last two minutes of a half.  If the team that commits the penalty such as a false start, doesn’t have a time out, they run 10 seconds off the game clock.

That would make someone think twice about taking a fall.

Anyway, you can read the rest of the article here.
NFL threatens fines, suspensions for faking injuries – ESPN.