Has the tush been pushed too far?
The controversial play mastered and made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles continues to come under attack from all sides. Now they might’ve lost one of their own in the heated debate.
Jason Kelce spoke with USA TODAY Sports and noted that plenty of people are upset with the ‘tush push,’ while also giving a reason for its potential ban.
‘If they can’t officiate it properly, that would certainly be a reason to ban it,’ Kelce told USA TODAY Sports. ‘That’s the reality of it.’
While he didn’t specifically say what the league’s ruling should be on the play, Kelce did express concern about whether a ban fixes anything.
‘Does removing the push affect the issues that people are having officiating it?’ Kelce questioned. ‘I don’t know that removes … everybody has an issue with the false starts.
‘The offensive line is still gonna operate the same way whether it’s tush push or a quarterback sneak,’ Kelce added. ‘The play in the Giants game – they ruled the forward progress stopped. I think it was a bad call. Like it looks like a fumble to me, probably should’ve been a fumble.’
Kelce pointed out that he isn’t certain the play would’ve been called differently if it was a traditional quarterback sneak.
‘Now if people just want to punish the Eagles because they’re getting away with a lot of bad calls, I certainly understand that,’ Kelce said. ‘But I also haven’t seen the struggling to officiate it with other teams running it. The Eagles aren’t the only team that run it, but very coincidentally I often see only the Eagles being brought up online. I think that probably has more to do with the Eagles being better at it than anyone else.’
The former Eagles center also reiterated the reasons for his visit to the league meetings in May, saying he just wanted to dispel rumors around player safety and the idea that he retired due to the play. It’s unclear what impact Kelce might’ve had on the final vote, but the ban was two teams short of being passed.
Unsurprisingly, the discussion has only intensified during the season. The league acknowledged that it is difficult to officiate the play, but there has been an emphasis on trying to spot false starts and more.
As for the fate of the play, Kelce didn’t take a side, but did provide an off-ramp for those who want to pass a ban.
‘If the NFL thinks it’s unfair or they can’t officiate it, those would obviously be good reasons to ban the play,’ Kelce said. ‘I don’t think banning it because it’s ugly is a good reason – that seems pretty subjective.’
Any vote involving the ‘tush push’ will have to wait until the offseason. Whether a ban is passed or not, it appears this issue isn’t going away anytime soon.
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