INDIANAPOLIS — Packers general manager Brian Gutenkust on Tuesday morning confirmed that his team proposed a rule change to ban the Eagles’ signature Tush Push/Brotherly Shove play.
But at the NFL Combine, Gutenkust didn’t have any strong reasons why.
“I’m aware of it,” Gutenkust said. “We really haven’t had many discussions about it. I’m sure we will over the next few weeks as we head into the owners meetings. So I’m aware that we did, but haven’t had many discussions about it.”
We’ll see if the rule change proposal actually reaches the point of a vote at next month’s annual league meetings in Palm Beach, Florida. If it reaches that point, owners would need to have 24 of 32 votes to pass the rule change.
It’s unclear if this proposal will have enough support to get even that far. A couple years ago, there was talk about potentially banning the play but it never gained enough traction and died before reaching the owners meetings.
What does Gutenkust think about the play?
“I know we’re not very successful against it. I know that,” said Gutenkust, whose Packers lost to the Eagles in the wild-card round this year. “To be honest about it, I haven’t really put much thought into it. It’s been around for a while. We used it in different fashions with our tight end. Again, I think there will be a lot of discussions about it. I gotta kind of look at the information as far as injury rates, things like that. But we’ll see.”
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman at the Combine two years ago said, “All I know is everything we're doing is legal and it works. And just because people do something that’s really good, doesn't mean it should be outlawed.”
As far as coaches around the league, opinions are split.
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said he can see both sides of the debate.
“It’s tough because I have a hard time making things illegal because of success,” McDaniel said. “However, it’s a different thing if it’s a safety issue. For me and the game of football, when your job is to take 11 people, possess the ball, move it down the field to try to get in the end zone to score points, I think because it’s successful, I have a hard time that being the teeth of the argument to move on from it.”
McDaniel, like many head coaches in the NFL, comes from an offensive background.
But what do defensive head coaches think?
“I thought it should have been illegal three years ago,” Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said. “The Tush Push play, I’ve never been a big fan. There’s just no other play in our game where you can absolutely get behind somebody and push them, pull them off, do anything … I never really understood it, why that was legal. I’m definitely going to be one of those guys to vote against that.”
For the record, coaches don’t vote on these rule proposals; owners do.
But Morris isn’t the only defensive-minded coach opposed to the play. Bills head coach (and former Eagles defensive coordinator) Sean McDermott isn’t a fan either.
“To me, there’s always been an injury risk with that play,” McDermott said to reporters on Monday afternoon. “I’ve expressed that opinion for the last couple of years or so when it really started to come into play the way it’s been used, especially a year ago. I just feel like player safety and the health and safety of our players has to be at the top of our game, which is it.
“That play, to me, the way that the techniques are used with that play, have been potentially contrary to the health and safety of the players. Again, you have to go back in fairness to the injury data on the play. I just think the optics of it, I’m not in love with.”
Of course, we don’t know if the NFL or the NFL’s Competition Committee has any hard data about the injury rate on the play that would change opinions on the play. Until that’s produced, it’s hard to imagine a rule change happening.
If the main argument is that it’s unfair because one team is really good at it or if the argument is that it doesn’t look like a football play, it’s hard to imagine the play being outlawed. But if there’s some actual data that says the play is unsafe, that would change the equation.
The Eagles have used this version of the QB sneak for several years and it has been a very effective play for them. For what it’s worth, though, the Eagles think they’d be good at QB sneaks without the push element of the play. The Eagles have big and strong offensive linemen up front and strong quarterback in Jalen Hurts. Getting a push from DeVonta Smith isn’t exactly the motor that makes the play work.
While some folks around the league have strong opinions about the play, others don’t. And that’s telling too.
“I don’t have a strong opinion, I’ll be honest,” Jaguars head coach Liam Cohen said. “I haven’t had a ton of experience with it. It hasn’t really affected me personally as a coach. It hasn’t won or lost games for me so I really don’t have a strong opinion. I know that’s out there, I know that’s a conversation. Just haven’t had a lot of experience with it and just don’t have a huge opinion on it right now.”
