Some clarity on the controversial kneel down play at the end of Sunday's New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers game was provided Monday by Giants' quarterback Eli Manning. The two-time Super Bowl Champion spoke to WFAN's Mike Francesa a day after New York's 41-34 victory over the Bucs', and said he told the Tampa Bay defense he was going to take a knee -- a practice that's common at the end of NFL games to prevent linemen from firing off the line after the ball is snapped -- but the Bucs' ignored the warning.

"I guess certain teams you might say ‘hey watch out for a cheap shot.’ That’s what we call it," said Manning to Francesa. "A lot of teams will ask in those situations ‘are you taking a knee’ and I will tell them ‘hey we’re taking a knee so we’re not firing off.’ We don’t tell our lineman to fire off and hit them on that last play."

When asked by Francesa if he was more upset that Tampa Bay fired off the ball or that they went low on the Giants offensive lineman, Manning responded:

"I think it’s one thing to come off a little bit and another thing to have everybody right there diving in at the offensive linemen’s legs. Just a possibility of getting someone hurt and on a play where we’re taking a knee to end the game and people are coming, firing in and trying to get a cheap shot and trying to possibly hurt somebody."

(H/T Sports Radio Interviews.)

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