The Green Bay tush push proposal was tabled until May. And it's likely to return in a very different form.
The Packers' original proposal (which may or may not have been instigated by the league office, like the Lions' playoff reseeding proposal) was badly flawed. It prevented an "immediate" push of the player who received the snap. Which, if it had passed, would have opened a can of worms regarding officiating consistency as to what is and isn't "immediate."
The most obvious fallback, as mentioned last week by Commissioner Roger Goodell (who seems to want the rule to change), is a return to the pre-2006 rulebook. More recently, Packers president Mark Murphy mentioned it as the likely alternative.
In those days, pushing and pulling of the ballcarrier was prohibited. The league removed the ban on pushing a teammate, because it was never called. (As we understand it, assisting the runner — by pushing or pulling — has not been called since a 1994 divisional round playoff game between the Bills and the Chiefs. During the 2024 postseason, we reported that the league would not instruct officials to call fouls for pulling a runner, given that it hasn't been called.)
As one source with knowledge of the dynamics explained it, however, the 2006 adjustment happened as part of a broader set of changes to the rules regarding blocking. Simply prohibiting pushing without making other adjustments to the blocking rules could have, as the source put it, unintended consequences.
Frankly, it's unnecessary to prevent a downfield shove. While it's regarded as unnecessary roughness for a player to charge down the field and barrel into his teammate with the ball (it's called, we're told, five or six times per year), there's no specific concern about a teammate pushing a teammate with the ball spontaneously.
The best approach could be to ban pushing in limited circumstances. Basically, within the tackle box and/or five yards (or some other specific distance) on either side of the line of scrimmage.
The problem is that the league doesn't want to create the impression that it's changing the rules to target one specific team. But we all know that's what's happening. Why play games with it?
If it's a safety risk and/or aesthetically problematic, cut with a scalpel and not a chainsaw. Green Bay's proposal from last week, bad as it was, started the conversation. The best way to finish it, if Goodell is able to twist 24 arms, is to make a change that focuses on the technique that causes concern, without trying to fix unrelated maneuvers (like a downfield push) that aren't broken.
