The Tush Push Lives
Well the end of the Tush Push feels inevitable, but for another season it lives!
I’ve already gone in at length about why I am personally fine with the Tush Push so there’s no point in re-litigating that argument. We had two big votes get tabled earlier this year for a later vote. The first was the Lions playoff seeding proposal. I was against that one too, and to my pleasure, it was pulled before it was voted on again. The playoff seeding remains the same. The other was the almighty Tush Push. They needed 24 out of 32 votes to ban it. They managed…22. 22 to 10. Why does that score seem familiar? Oh yeah.
From the sounds of it they changed the wording of the rule to be that all assistance given to offensive players is illegal. No lineman getting into a scrum to shove a TE or WR forward, etc. This wider wording was the attempt to make it sound like they weren’t explicitly voting on the play itself, even though we all know that was the point. Didn’t work! I fully expect the Eagles to run even more Tush Pushes this year out of spite. I certainly would.
We can say that teams need to figure out a way to stop it, but I’m not sure they will. The push is just a QB sneak with a bit more leverage at the end. The Eagles have a stud line and a QB who squats mountains. The QB sneak is already a very high-percentage play, which makes sense! Sneaks are usually just attempts to gain a yard or less and an offensive line snapping and launching earlier than the reactionary defense can pretty reliably get you a yard. The Eagles would still convert most of these without the pushing. You could figure out ways to combat the way it works but the more reliable method of prevention is to just prevent the Eagles from getting into range.
People need to get over their hatred for this stupid play and just accept the Eagles are good at short-yardage sneaks because they practice it and have a good roster. That’s all there is to it. The amount of handwringing over this thing is unbearable. The play is just regular levels of successful for other teams, so it’s pretty clear this is just the league being mad the Eagles are good at it.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: It lives and dies by its stupid name.
I’m just waiting for a commentator with the balls to say “they got ass blasted” in the rare instance that the tush push fails.
“And the Anus Strainus play fails!”
lol, YES!
The issue I have is that defensive players are banned from pushing each other in similar scrum-like situations. So defenses are being told to “Stop it. Just stop the play. It’s up to the defense to figure it out” while the rules prevent them from employing the best method to do so.
Ok so you and Get The Horns below have probably made the best and most logical and simplest argument why and how the “Tush Push” should be banned. Which guarantees the NFL won’t do it.
The point I’ll make is this: there is no team closer to the Eagles regarding the Tush Push than the Bills. And in the 2025 AFC Championship game, the Chiefs were *ready for it*. I’ll go to my grave saying that one play was a first down but the Chiefs had stopped it a bunch of times before so it’s not *unbeatable*
Looking forward to commentary on Throw Rogan”s Joe Rogan appearance?
The Eagles’ penance is that it will forever be known as “The TUSH push” instead of the far better “Brotherly Shove.” Grown-ass men in broadcast booths will have to say the word “tush” as part of a televised event. Disgraceful.
I think that’s fair. Brotherly Shove is objectively better, but because we all hate the Eagles (sorry, friend!) I think that’s a decent compromise. You keep doing it, we keep mocking it, everybody’s moderately happy. Compromise!!
And we aren’t even getting fun ZZ Top references when the tush push happens… For shame.
The tush push should be banned because shoving people through the line is *already banned on kick blocking attempts*. The rationale being player safety. If it’s banned in one situation it should be banned in every situation.
If it’s not going to be banned on offense it should be unbanned on defense/special teams.
Just make it consistent, either way.
A kicker is inherently more vulnerable as he does his job than virtually any other player. To have different standards when a kicker is kicking makes some sense.
I see two possibilities.
Either the tush push is something that many teams can do, in which case more teams can adopt it, and it will somewhat level the playing field. Or the tush push is something that’s fairly unique to the Eagles because of their strong QB and great o-line, in which case they’ll need to keep those pieces together in order to be effective at it. That is, their team is rare and unique, and it won’t be long before they don’t have the personnel to be successful at it, which will level the playing field too. It’s probably the latter.
But really, the idea of banning it is pretty lame. I hate the Eagles as a franchise but respect them for finding a unique advantage.
1. It looks dumb, and it’s boring.
2. It’s not a football play, it’s a rugby scrum.
3. It used to be illegal before 2005 for a reason.
4. The defense isn’t allowed to do the same, offense already has enough advantages.
5. As stated above the QB sneak is all that is necessary.
6. The fiasco in the playoffs.
I hate that everyone says it’s just because the Eagles are good at it. I don’t care who is good or bad at it. I hate the play itself.
It’s not football. It’s rugby.
Football is another form of Rugby.
The fact that they even tried is embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as if the ban succeeded. Imagine the righteous heckling from Philly if their signature play was banned the year they win it all. There’s no expiration date on that shit-talk.
Maybe the league is banking on the Eagles not repeating, so they can ban it without looking quite so salty and jealous.
The tush push is the purest football play. It’s a rugby play at this point. For Matt LeFleur to whine and bitch and rally the rest of the league to ban it is the most bitchmade thing I’ve ever seen in football.
Embarrassing that it lived.
No, it’s not. Your attempted justification is not smart or creative.
RBs push the pile all the time. Just learn how to stop it. Just cuz my team sucks at stopping or running it doesnt mean it should be banned.
How many more times does someone want to take the easy way out of having to deal with a new challenge?
I wonder how many times some baby wanted a novel play to be banned because they did not know how to stop it.
I actually wonder whether a tush push could make a fumble less noticeable on the offense, thus giving the defense a practical advantage. Every new play is a learning experience.
Oh yeah. As a high school athlete, I will never experience a tush push because it would constitute “aiding the runner.” I guess that they’re either farther behind OR pushing just becomes less physically risky as we get older.
By the way, happy Memorial Day! I was wondering why there was not a comic uploaded until I realized the occurrence. I wouldn’t blame anyone for spending the day honouring our fallen soldiers.
Who is the giraffe on the left?
I’m guessing it’s Giants owner John Mara.