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Can somebody explain what happened & why. Here is what I saw:

1. The Giants were ahead going in to halftime and had just received the ball on about their own 10 yd line. There was less than 1 minute left on the clock, and they attempted to take a kneel down to run out the clock.

2. The Cards had 3 time outs, so called a time out after the first kneel-down, to try & force the Giants to get a 1st down or punt. The Giants tried for the down but were unable to get it. The Cards used their timeouts to keep some time on the clock. The Giants punted.

3. The Cards received the ball after the punt and get to around their own 35 yd line. There is only 5 or 6 seconds left on the clock before halftime.

4. Here is where I get confused. The Cards setup for a kickoff? on 1st down. The commentators call it a field goal attempt, but the ball is placed on a stand for the kick and no hike is made. The ball is caught by the Giants on about their 10 yd line and is run back to around the 30. Time is out, the half ends.

I will admit I was eating dinner at my in-laws while this was happening, so could only keep half an eye on the game. But what was the purpose / strategy of the kickoff? It was too far for a field goal or hail mary, but why not take a knee, rather than risk a run-back by the other team?