PALM BEACH, Fla. — As the debate over rule changes approached this week, the NFL competition committee acknowledged an elephant in the room. It knew that a proposal to ban the tush push was up for debate.
Committee members knew, too, the conspiracy allegations that could follow.
After all, the tush push accounted for just 0.28% of plays last season, per ESPN data. The Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills ran the play more over the past three seasons than the other 30 teams combined.
Was this a jab at the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles? Why was changing this play a focus?
That concern influenced heavily the Tuesday decision to table the Green Bay Packers’ proposal to eliminate pushing or aiding the ball carrier. A vote was not simply held and failed. Instead, the vote was delayed to explore further rulebook language. Team representatives are expected to receive a broader, less targeted rule change proposal at a May 20-21 meeting in Minneapolis.
Increasingly, the NFL is trending toward reintroducing a pre-2004 rule that prohibits eliminating all pushing and pulling of a ball carrier. The result is to eliminate the tush push but do so in a scope considered more fair by some.
And yet: Where the competition committee believes “nobody likes” the connection to the Eagles and Bills, Jerry Jones appears not to share their concern.
Instead, the Cowboys team owner and general manager voiced support for eliminating a tactic on the basis of a team’s dominance.
“The reason we got the ...
