Jones-Drew Takes Knee, Earns 'Headiest Play' Honors

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jets wanted the Jaguars to score.  Maurice Jones-Drew ran untouched for several yards, then took a knee at the 1 yard line.

The play has been talked about at great length. The result: It worked; the Jaguars won the game on a last-second field goal.

The pundits appear to agree with the decision.

USA Today declared it the "Headiest Play" of the day in their "Bests and Worsts" column.

Here is its write-up on the play:

Headiest play: Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew eschewed a certain TD and went down at the 1 yard line with 1:48 to play with an eye toward cementing a Jacksonville victory. With the Jets out of timeouts, Jones-Drew's kneel-down (directed by coach Jack Del Rio) allowed the Jaguars to run down the clock and kick a chip-shot, game-winning field goal as time expired rather than giving the ball back to the Jets.

The Jaguars-Jets game also drew another mention from USA Today:  the loss for the Jets, the teams' third consecutive loss, earned it the "Worst Slump" mention on its rankings list.

Jones-Drew is also well aware of the impact his knee had on another iconic American pastime: fantasy football. Jones-Drew, who is on his own fantasy team, apologized to fantasy owners everywhere. 

A Sports Illustrated writer put the kneel in a special category in his "Fantasy Revelations" column:

As a general rule, Fantasy Revelations celebrates the players' actual statistical accomplishments each Sunday -- not necessarily the touchdown/field goal that got away. But Maurice Jones-Drew earns a special exemption this week -- let's call it The Brian Westbrook Award -- for racking up 145 total yards, one touchdown and stopping short at the Jets' 1 with seconds to go ... thus setting up a game-winning field goal from Josh Scobee, without giving New York ANY chance to pull out the victory. Oh sure, MJD could've easily finished with 146 yards and two touchdowns, but his selfless, spur-of-the-moment act of reviving Jacksonville's playoff hopes deserves a heaping-helping of praise.

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