If you can’t beat it, ban it.
That was the mindset of 22 teams in the NFL on Wednesday when they voted to ban the tush push. Thankfully, they failed, though by only two votes.
If you’re mad about the vote failing, send condolences to the Green Bay Packers, who brought the ban proposal to an owners’ vote. If you’re happy, deride the Packers for turning to the rule book to stop what they (and others) couldn’t on the field.
I’m not a tush push fan, but I’m firmly in the deride-the-Packers camp here, mainly because there wasn’t a compelling argument made as to why the play should be banned.
The Packers began this quest with an argument centered on injury, but when no data could be shown that the play caused a single injury — not one — they shifted their focus to the old “let’s get back to how things used to be” mantra, meaning going back to 2005 rules when pushing and pulling ball carriers was illegal.
The problem here is they already showed their cards. They weren’t interested in reverting to 2005 rules until it became necessary to do so. And while trial and error can be a useful tool when it comes to optimizing methodology, it reeks of desperation when you’re just trying to get your way.
I’d respect the Packers more had they just admitted they don’t like the play — “that’s it, that’s our reasoning.” Instead, they hid behind an integrity-of-the-game argument where, to use an appropriate phrase here, the goalposts kept moving.
The Packers, of course, shouldn’t shoulder all the derision here; 21 other teams reportedly voted with them. If we’re being blunt, cowards are what they are, most of them.
(For what it’s worth, clubs that voted with the Eagles, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, were the Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans.)
Why so harsh?
Because this is a play that is so simple every team in the league could run it; a play so obvious, every coach, player and yahoo watching at home knows it’s coming; a play that embodies the core of football — strength vs. strength — more than any other. And yet it’s a play that only two teams have figured out how to run effectively.
That should be celebrated, not banned. That should be a wake-up call to the 30 other teams to figure out how to stop it and come up with the right personnel to execute their own version.
The Eagles and Buffalo Bills, the only two teams that appear to have figured it out, are successful at it because they have Mack trucks for quarterbacks. Sorry if you have Jordan Love under center and he doesn’t have tree trunks for thighs, but that’s on you, Green Bay. Find a tight end who does and join the guaranteed fourth-and-1 conversion party.
Unfortunately, this probably isn’t the end of this push to ban the push. The ban camp received 22 votes. That’s six more than it reportedly had in April, and only two short of prevailing.
But the “no” votes aren’t going away. They’re going to gather their strength, focus it in a common direction, and keep push, push, pushing until they get it across the goal line … you know, like football ought to be played.
