Even if concerns about injury and aesthetics have become embarrassing pretexts for dumping the tush push, the effort to nudge the play out of the rule book has likely started the clock on the official expiration of the technique.
By flagging the play as a catastrophic injury waiting to happen, the league has (intentionally or not) activated the legal bat signal.
As noted by Kalyn Kahler of ESPN.com in an excellent postmortem on the tush push escapades in Palm Beach, NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills harped on the injury risk, to league staff, the Competition Committee, coaches, and owners.
"It's all about health and safety," an unnamed owner told ESPN.com. "[Dr. Sills said], 'It's not if but when a catastrophic injury occurs.'"
When incoming general counsel Ted Ullyot sees that quote, the die will be cast; he'll say they need to get rid of the play before someone literally dies.
Even if the data doesn't support it, Sills's adoption of a hair-on-fire posture (possibly at the nudging of those who want to kill the play, including the Commissioner) becomes a massive problem for the league if/when a serious injury happens during a tush-push play.
It's why the NFL changed the kickoff, even if they never say it out loud. They wanted to eliminate the very real risk of (another) catastrophic injury when two large, strong men run in opposite directions at top speed and collide. They have.
By introducing the vague possibility of a catastrophic injury on the tush push, the eventual reality (if it happens) of a catastrophic injury makes those remarks a goldmine for proof of league liability. For that reason alone, it now seems obvious for the first time that the anti-tush push forces will get what they want. Especially since the push doesn't really change what fundamentally is a very effective quarterback sneak.
Indeed, the Eagles will still run the sneak. And they'll do it very well. If/when a serious injury happens, the notion that it happened during the inherently dangerous tush-push play will be off the table and unavailable to the lawyer who is hired to obtain maximum compensation for the player who suffered it.
There it is. Game over for the tush push. And the lawyers will be the ones who make it happen — especially since that advice will mesh with what the league office seemingly wants to do, anyway.
