Cowards! Here’s the Latest on Efforts to Ban the Tush Push

National Football League owners are set to vote this week on the Green Bay Packers resolution to ban the “tush push” quarterback sneak made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles. Green Bay presented a resolution to ban the move during the owner’s meetings in March, but the resolution was tabled for “further discussion.” In other words, to give the league owners an opportunity to write the rule change proposal in language that doesn’t blatantly ban the tush push because the Eagles have mastered it but rather ban the series of moves that create the play. And that’s exactly what happened.

As expected, multiple reports indicate the newest proposal from Green Bay would essentially revert to the pre-2005 on “aiding the ball carrier” as we call it in the official’s circle. Here’s a look at the proposal:

Naturally, Green Bay references “safety” as the main reason for the changing the play. Mind you, there’s been very little data – and we live in an analytic world, just look at the use of advanced analytics in sports – to support the “health and safety” aspect of the rule change. But now, the Packers are also stating that the play is a “pace of play” issue. 

Give me a break! IT’S NO DIFFERENT THAN ANY OTHER NFL PLAY AS FAR AS “PACE OF PLAY GOES!” ARE WE GOING TO OUTLAW THE HUDDLE NEXT?

Sorry for “yelling” but the desire to kill the play is ridiculous.

But What About the pre-2005 Rule?

Prior to the 2005 NFL regular season, the league outlawed the pushing and/or pulling of a ball carrier or “aiding the runner.” In short, blockers were not allowed to “push the pile” in effort to gain a first down or more. More often than not, this type of play was a traditional quarterback sneak or “three yards and a cloud of dust” type of run which were deemed “not flashy” enough at the time. The rule change allowed for the emergence of quicker screen plays, linemen getting downfield and blowing up a pile to allow a runner to escape, etc. It can be argued it ushered in the most exciting era of offensive-led football since the American Football League popularized the downfield forward pass in the 1960’s.

But will it be all of naught moving forward?

Is the NFL really going to be willing to sacrifice the 9,000,000,000 other plays to ban one?

This is a developing story…

UPDATE: The proposal has failed to pass.