Green Bay Packers legend is built on toughness. 'Tush-push' ban is slap in the face.

Yahoo

26-02-2025

Over the past few seasons, I've felt that the Green Bay Packers are more of a finesse team than a formidable one.
Offensively, we can compete with anyone. However, we lack players in the trenches on defense who consistently push offensive linemen back into the opposing quarterback's face.
I think the Packers know that, too; which is why they were the first team to go to the league and propose a rule change to outlaw the 'tush-push' play, which was perfected by the Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles.
The tush-push is a play in which the quarterback takes the snap directly under the center and is pushed through the defensive line by the running back and tight end. It resembles a rugby play and is used in short-yardage and goal-line situations, and the Eagles execute it better than anyone.
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The Packers lost their 2024 season opener to the Eagles and in the playoffs, and didn't have an answer to the play. But neither did most other teams. The best way to stop the play is to have someone like former Packers' legend Gilbert 'The Gravedigger' Brown clogging up the middle.
But athletic 6-foot-2 and 340-pound defensive linemen who are as stout as giant sequoias don't grow on trees, so the Packers decided to go to the league and ask for help.
The Packers have always been my favorite sports team, and despite the challenges they face on the field, I proudly bleed green and gold. However, the request strikes me as weak and a barometer of where the team is headed. When I first heard that a team wanted to ban this play, I expected it to come from a struggling franchise like the Carolina Panthers — not from my beloved Packers.
Honestly, the request is a slap in the face to all the legendary defensive players who have worn the storied 'G' on their helmets. I can't help but wonder how the late, great 'Minister of Defense,' Reggie White, would react to such a suggestion. I almost hear Reggie's raspy voice echoing in my mind, saying, "Don't worry, coach; God will give us the strength to stop them."
Can you imagine telling Ray Nitschke, Willie Wood, Willie Davis, LeRoy Butler, Clay Matthews, and my all-time favorite player, Charles Woodson, that because we can't stop the tush-push, we are going to ask the league to ban it?
The Packers are expected to be tougher than this. They play on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, enduring wind chills of minus-10. They don't play in some fancy temperature-controlled stadium.
Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy first expressed his displeasure with the set Eagles coach Nick Sirianni popularized earlier this month during a Q&A on the team's website.
Murphy, known himself for being a tough player, expressed that he is not a fan of the play, claiming the Eagles execute it without much skill. He noted that it almost guarantees a first down on plays requiring one yard or less.
The veteran player and executive should know better than anyone the NFL is a copycat league. Instead of complaining about it, the Packers should focus on drafting players who can effectively stop the play or develop their own version of the tush-push, which we could call the 'green and gold push.'
Over the years, the Packers themselves have utilized certain plays that some teams would have liked to see banned.
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One that comes to mind is Aaron Rodgers' quick-snap strategy. He would get his offense lined up and call for the ball quickly to catch the defense off guard, especially if they had too many players on the field. The play allowed him to make a deep throw without hesitation.
If the pass was completed, it advanced the offense; if it was intercepted, the play would simply be replayed due to the penalty for too many men on the field.
I'm also sure offensive linemen would have wanted Reggie White's 'hump move' banned. White used strength and leverage to gain an inside position on an offensive lineman by 'humping' his back against them and pushing their chest up and out, then quickly slipping his arm underneath their armpit to gain access to the quarterback.
During a game against the Minnesota Vikings, White used the move on wide receiver Cris Carter and literally tossed the Hall of Famer 10 yards into the legs of quarterback Warren Moon — and still got the sack.
The Vikings and Carter didn't ask that the hump move get banned, instead Carter joked, "I should have a half a sack in my career stats."
I'm not sure if the league will give any thought to the Packers request, but if I were the Packers, I would reconsider. We are a storied franchise, and we shouldn't need the league to help us.
If we want to develop a tough identity, we need to establish one by calling our own shots and that starts with getting some dawgs in the trenches and creating a 'green and gold push' so we can bring that Lombardi trophy back home to where it belongs: in Titletown, of course.
Reach James E. Causey at [e-mail]; follow him on X@jecausey.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Eagles' tush push is unanswered in NFL. Banning it is weak | Opinion