Should Eagles' tush push be banned? It was not long ago.

[notorious]

People are starting to get tired of the once illegal "Tush Push".

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/should-...222308344.html

Should Eagles' tush push be banned?

Frank Schwab

The NFL has banned plays or strategies for different reasons through its history.

Sometimes it's for safety reasons. Once in a while it's because a play becomes uncompetitive. Oftentimes the league bans things just for the aesthetics of the game.

The Philadelphia Eagles' "tush push" checks all of those boxes.

When the Eagles have faced a third- or fourth-and-short the past two seasons, everyone knows what's coming and everyone knows it'll work. The Eagles align with Hurts under center, with a couple of teammates right behind him. On the snap, Hurts sneaks it forward and gets pushed from behind by his teammates. Just about every time it's a first down or a touchdown. Even if it's stopped once, good luck stopping it a second time.

It's pretty much unstoppable, and the frustration of it has gotten to the unfortunate point in which people are wishing harm on Hurts.
Eagles run tush push better than anyone else

It's surprising the NFL didn't ban the play last offseason. Like plenty of other strategic innovations, like the shift in Major League Baseball, sometimes leagues tip their cap to inventive teams and ban a play or strategy for the good of the game.

But the play stayed. And the Eagles keep running it. Hurts was asked about it Wednesday, and didn't seem to care if it got banned.

But, until that happens, the Eagles are still going to be unstoppable doing it.

"I have no thoughts on it," Hurts told the media Wednesday, when asked if the tush push should be banned. "We're the only people that are doing it as well as we are. There was a guy who wanted me hurt for it, too."

Hurts didn't clarify what he meant by the last comment. Though Wednesday, Chris Simms of NBC Sports said that if he was a defensive coach he'd be asking his players to go "headhunting" on the quarterback. Yikes.

Nobody, except maybe Simms, is saying the Eagles are doing anything wrong. It's within the rules and the Eagles take advantage of it.

Maybe it will take an injury to get the NFL's competition committee to reconsider. There seems to be a reasonable risk of injury when a large man is being pushed from behind into a scrum of much larger men. It's not a play that has a lot of suspense, after the Eagles run it over and over to success.

Then again, maybe if you ban the push, the Eagles would still be as good at quarterback sneaks. Having a quarterback with an insanely strong lower body running behind the NFL's best offensive line is probably going to work too, as former NFL defensive lineman J.J. Watt pointed out.

We're going to see a lot more of the play this season. But let's not insinuate that Hurts deserves to be injured just because the Eagles found a practically unstoppable play.

[notorious]

It was illegal not long ago. I remember reading about it in one of the those old 1970's "Silly facts about Football" books when I was a kid.

For decades, NFL rules prohibited offensive players from directly aiding a runner in any way, whether it was pushing or pulling him. But in 2005 — six months before the Bush Push — the league clarified its stance. There would be no pulling of ball carriers by teammates, but pushing was too difficult to legislate."

It was too difficult to legislate until it became obvious like how the Eagles do it.

They are within the rules currently, and I'm not complaining about that. There was a reason the rule existed before.

[RealSNR]

Oh, it's hard to tell something on the football field?

Like how close an offensive lineman is lined up to some mythical line drawn on the field?

Ya don't say!

[Jewish Rabbi]

Look, I hate it as much as anyone else, but if it was so easy and uncompetitive every other team would be doing it too. As it stands, no other team is as successful running this play. The Eagles have the perfect QB and offensive line to make this play work. You run into a slippery slope when you start banning plays. Are the Chiefs not allowed to pass on 4th and long because Mahomes converts it more than anyone else? Ravens not allowed to kick long field goals at the end of the game because Tucker is better than anyone else? Bears not allowed to run screen passes because the defense is going to intercept every other one?

[kysirsoze]

I would ban it for safety reasons I think, but I don't think it would have a huge impact on the Eagles success. Hell, Brady was practically automatic on one yard QB sneaks. Hurts and that line would pick up most of these.

[Buehler445]

Don’t care.

They run the risk. Hurts can squat 400 or whatever,

Teams just need to stop them before they get into short.

I’m not freaking out about anything. Their offense hasn’t been crisp this year anyway.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi

Look, I hate it as much as anyone else, but if it was so easy and uncompetitive every other team would be doing it too. As it stands, no other team is as successful running this play. The Eagles have the perfect QB and offensive line to make this play work. You run into a slippery slope when you start banning plays. Are the Chiefs not allowed to pass on 4th and long because Mahomes converts it more than anyone else? Ravens not allowed to kick long field goals at the end of the game because Tucker is better than anyone else? Bears not allowed to run screen passes because the defense is going to intercept every other one?

The Broncos aren't allowed to suck because it's an easy win for their opponent?

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi

Look, I hate it as much as anyone else, but if it was so easy and uncompetitive every other team would be doing it too. As it stands, no other team is as successful running this play. The Eagles have the perfect QB and offensive line to make this play work. You run into a slippery slope when you start banning plays. Are the Chiefs not allowed to pass on 4th and long because Mahomes converts it more than anyone else? Ravens not allowed to kick long field goals at the end of the game because Tucker is better than anyone else? Bears not allowed to run screen passes because the defense is going to intercept every other one?

I think it's simpler than that... just saying you can't aid another player forward does the trick, and as notorious said, it was a rule for years (didn't realize it had been nearly 20 years though).

It's not a specific play per se, but a more fundamental rule for/against how you execute plays.

I personally don't really care and you'd also run into enforcement issues anyway, and the refs **** up enough stuff as it is, so I'd rather not give them another rule to **** up and over enforce.

[Simply Red]

TL/DR but yes, absolutely.

[Why Not?]

How would you differentiate a rule that allows the O-line to push the RB down field but makes the Tush Push illegal? I guess you could outlaw all aiding the runner but I think it's awesome when the fatties are down field pushing the RB. If the Eagles play was so revolutionary and devastating they would've, you know, actually won the Super Bowl. As it is, I believe but feel free to fact check me on this, that a different team won it last season?

[WhawhaWhat]

My problem with the tush push is the @NFL literally banned defensive players from pushing other players into the offensive formation on FG and PATs because it was a “Health and safety issue” but now it’s ok because it benefits the offense? https://t.co/BoCxRGmjsW https://t.co/osvitttlQ5 pic.twitter.com/RrsV0omLWg

— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) September 27, 2023

[ThaVirus]

Richard Sherman made a good point on it recently:

“ My problem with the tush push is the @NFL literally banned defensive players from pushing other players into the offensive formation on FG and PATs because it was a “Health and safety issue” but now it’s ok because it benefits the offense?”

This was the opinion of a Redskins center from back when they outlawed overloading 10 years ago:

“What players are saying about it: "I had a game, we played the Bengals ... and I had two guys over me and two guys behind them pushing, so it was basically four-on-one. My foot slipped, and I actually went down and did a split and pulled a hamstring. I'm like, 'Man, this is ridiculous.' Like, it's literally impossible to hold up that much force. I emailed (NFLPA executive director) DeMaurice Smith and got the ball rolling with that." -- Washington Redskins center Will Montgomery.”

So basically you just make it a player safety issue. On top of that, it is an ugly ass play that isn’t exciting in the least.

[Eleazar]

If defensive players start crowding up to the line and leaping over the top at the QB, the offensive team might stop doing it. Or the league will stop it due to the risk of injury for everyone involved in that

I agree that the play sucks primarily because it's uncompetitive, there's really no way to stop it and it takes all the drama out of those 3rd or 4th and short situations, which isn't good for football.

[KC_Lee]

The moment that Hurts injures his back via being pushed two separate directions from above and below it will get banned.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Why Not?

How would you differentiate a rule that allows the O-line to push the RB down field but makes the Tush Push illegal? I guess you could outlaw all aiding the runner but I think it's awesome when the fatties are down field pushing the RB. If the Eagles play was so revolutionary and devastating they would've, you know, actually won the Super Bowl. As it is, I believe but feel free to fact check me on this, that a different team won it last season?

They damn near did. It obviously doesn't help prevent the other team from scoring, but they were 11/18 on 3rd down... that's the defense getting to 3rd down a lot and it feels like half of those conversions were 3rd and short pushes.

Take a couple of those away, it's a different game entirely (don't think he was actually pushed on that 2 point conversion, but of course it wasn't "the play").