21-05-2025
Close vote on tush-push ban suggests it will be back on the agenda
As Black Bart once said, 'OK, Ralphie. You win this time, but we'll be back.'
The anti-tush push forces inevitably will return with another effort to remove the Eagles' signature play from the rulebook.
Wednesday's effort failed, by only two votes. With 24 required, the final tally was 22-10.
Multiple reports indicated that the Ravens, Patriots, Jets, and Lions were among the 10 'nay' votes. We're told that the Titans, Jaguars, and Browns also were opposed to the proposal. Throw in the Eagles, and that's eight of the 10.
The vote ends the matter for 2025. It undoubtedly will be back, as soon as next March. Especially if/when the anti-tush push forces can bring evidence to the table tangible evidence (real or imagined) of a safety risk.
Until the play is eliminated, all teams other than the Eagles have two ways of dealing with the situation: (1) figure out how to stop it; and/or (2) figure out how to run it.
The third strategy is to create the kind of spectacle that results in the same ugliness that happened in the NFC Championship — and which seemed to light the fuse for the league's failed effort to dump the play.
