There is a decent chance that the Philadelphia Eagles will no longer be able to perform the tush push. Philly has been highly successful in short-yardage situations over the last several years, mostly because the play appears to get at least three yards every time it is run. The NFL has a proposal in place to ban the play, but are the Seattle Seahawks one of the teams that want it gone?
The proposal has been tabled and will be revisited at some point in the future. The argument against it being run is that the play potentially heightens the risk of a player being hurt. There is no statistical evidence to support this.
The real reason teams might want the play banned is that opponents cannot stop it. Oddly, other teams do not seem to be able to replicate the play so they can run it successfully themselves. What is the secret? Maybe the Eagles offensive line is better than almost any other line. It is a mystery.
John Schneider confirms Seahawks stance on tush push ban
The tush push, where a quarterback gets shoved from behind by an offensive lineman, a tight end, a running back, or a combination of all three, is an interesting play. It has its roots more in rugby than football. The play would not be legal in rugby, however, as in a scrum, each side is able to join together before the ball is moved, and one side does not have all the momentum.
If you are a Seahawks fan and think the tush push, or "brotherly shove," should be done away with, you won't be happy to hear that Seattle general manager John Schneider said on his Seattle Sports 710 AM podcast on Thursday that the team was not one of those attempting to get the tush push banned.
Schneider said the evidence put forth in hopes the tush push is stopped is vague on whether the play causes players to get hurt.
The general manager also said that the Seahawks had previously looked into figuring out how to run the play, or stop it, by having a rugby expert involved in practices. Seattle does not run the tush push, however. The only two teams to run the play more than five times last year were the Eagles and the Buffalo Bills.
If the brotherly shove does not become illegal, more teams should try to run it. We all know that the Seahawks could undoubtedly do something to be better in short-yardage situations. In 2024, Seattle ranked 21st in third-down conversions and 22nd in fourth-down conversions.
