Bucs up to same old tricks during Cowboys' kneel-downs

Well, at least Greg Schiano was not joking when he said he would have his defensive players fire off the ball in kneel-down situations again.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers found themselves trailing the Dallas Cowboys late on Sunday and Schiano’s players tried to be disruptive again as the Cowboys looked to run out the clock by having quarterback Tony Romo knee down.

As the Tampa Bay Times reports, Dallas was expecting it and the Cowboys offensive lineman fired off the ball too. Schiano even used timeouts after two kneel downs to force the Cowboys to run more plays and the Bucs were flagged for being offside on one play. The Bucs surprised the New York Giants with the tactic in Week 2 leading to a tense moment between Schiano and Tom Coughlin at midfield after the game.

Now that everyone is expecting it, we’ll see if Schiano orders the Bucs to keep it up.

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune