Mike Sando put together a post today discussing the "allegedly fake Giants injuries." The NFL has certain rules in place including the use of injury timeouts and in late game situations, the opportunity to burn time off the clock.
Nonetheless, we've seen issues like the Giants "injuries" arise in numerous previous situations involving hurry-up offenses. Our own 49ers were involved in one such situation against the Indianapolis Colts and the folks at Stampede Blue absolutely flipped out over it.
I've posted some video after the jump from Monday Night Football. At the 40 second mark, you can see Deon Grant and another player fall to the ground. I suppose they could have been injured but I'm not really sure how any of us could buy that.
What exactly can be done to prevent fake injuries from ballooning? Players taking dives pretending to be hurt is a complaint I hear frequently with soccer (great video). I'd like to hear our soccer enthusiasts weigh in on the issue of diving. Is it something the league should more directly punish in the future? Fines, unsportsmanlike penalties? Or is it too subjective?
Fooch's Update: Mike Sando has an updated post in which it sounds like the league is threatening some kind of action.
"Going forward, be advised that should the league office determine that there is reasonable cause, all those suspected of being involved in faking injuries will be summoned promptly to this office ... to discuss the matter," the league warned in a memo to teams.
And what if players/teams are found guilty?
"Those found to be violators will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action for conduct detrimental to the game," the memo stated.
Conduct detrimental to the game can be punished by fines, suspensions and revocation of draft choices.
The question remains how best to deal with it.