After months of back-and-forth arguments and appeals from the Philadelphia Eagles, the NFL is not banning the ‘tush push.’ Football’s most controversial play, it became the Eagles’ most unstoppable offensive weapon, propelling them to postseason success, and every other team is trying to find ways to either emulate it, or stop it.
The final vote on the play took place on Wednesday, with NFL owners failing to get the required 24 votes to ban the play (it only garnered 22). This came after the NFL Competition Committee and Player Safety Committee both voted to ban the play The proposal would have added verbiage into the rulebook which banned another player from pushing or pulling the ball-carrier forward, or assisting them in any way outside of individual blocking.
I’m a self-professed tush push hater. I’m sad it’s not dead.
It has nothing to do with it being difficult to defend, or hating on the Eagles. In fact, I think it’s awesome that they found a new, relatively simply technique to optimize the quarterback sneak while putting more of an onus on the skill of interior linemen. The core problem I have is that the play is BORING. Things can be incredibly effective and boring as hell at the same time, and it removes so much of the goal line drama that makes a tense football game great.
Since the Eagles began utilizing the tush push you know what they haven’t used? Literally anything else. No fades to the back of the end zone, no bruising, short-yardage backs punching it in, no individual athleticism from Jalen Hurts to leap over the pile or bury through on his own. Just a bog-standard, generic push from behind that more often than not punches the ball in.
Frankly, I don’t want to see all 32 teams doing it, and while I detest slippery slope arguments, in this case it’s valid, because of a fundamental imbalance in the rules. Offensive players are allowed to push the ball carrier, but defensive players aren’t allowed to push each other to add more pressure at the point of attack like a rugby scrum. If defenses were allowed to push each other then we’d have more of an argument for keeping the tush push, but right now it’s simply a rule imbalance that allows the offense to push more force at the line than the defense.
Offense is proactive, defense is reactive. This is the push and pull of football. It’s simply too difficult for an individual defensive player to react to the direction of the tush push, the level of the play, and how it’s being executed when you have a hive mind behind the quarterback shoving him through with the force of multiple players behind them.
We have already seen NFL coaches ask at meetings for clarifications about whether they can push a running back or push a fullback, meaning there’s at least thought going around league circles on how to adapt the fundamentals of the tush push and tailor them to their own offense. Do we want to see that be football?
Football evolves in ebbs and flows. Someone innovates, opponents work to counter it, and people pivot. Even if the tush push was going to be this kind of play that served as the league’s flavor of the month, it’s still so inherently boring to watch — especially considering its success rate, that we lose so many potentially magical plays as a result.
Remember when the Chiefs used DT Dontari Poe as a short-yardage back to leverage his mass to push through? What about J.J. Watt turning into a tight end on goal line plays and catching short routes? Those creative moments evaporate if there’s a clear and obvious “best” play to run every time a goal line situation arises.
The tush push isn’t tantamount to an evolution in play like the slam dunk, it’s the equivalent of lifting a point guard in the air so he can hang on the rim like a child. Does it take a modicum of skill to quickly take the snap and be in unison with your teammates? Sure. Does that make it fun or interesting? No.
Now we’re going to see more tush pushing than ever. Congratulations to offensive coordinators around the NFL, because their job got much easier. Why be forced to get creative with playcalling when you can just shove the quarterback.
