NFL leaves ‘push the tush’ off list of rule proposals for next season

The NFL is going to let offensive linemen push ball carriers in the butt for a little while longer.

While NFL offensive linemen are always looking for some tush to push, the shield isn’t going to stop them anytime soon.

Although the league removed any issues with players pushing a ball carrier way back in 2006, it was not until this past season that teams found a way to really make it work for them. The team that seemed to make the greatest use of the rugby-style maul play was the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles. Jalen Hurts is a mobile quarterback, but one with a slightly smaller frame.

For now, the league is not going to look at removing this controversial play from the equation.

NFL is not going to end the ‘push the tush’ ball-carrying phenomenon

Good for the league for not getting in the way of fun butt stuff. In a league that has become increasingly finesse and passing-centric, it is a breath of fresh air to breathe in some three yards and a cloud of dust every now and then. As long as quarterbacks and running backs are okay with being pulverized into line meat by line meat, then I don’t really have an issue with some tush push.

Let’s be real. Football is a game of brawn and brains. You need both to win big, but sometimes, you just gotta rub dirt in it. The pen may be mightier than the sword most days, but on any given Sunday, it is about inches more than it is diplomacy. You would be lying to yourself if you don’t enjoy watching your big uglies try to burrow through the souls of the big uglies y’all go up against.

Not until Hurts or whoever gets broken in half by the insurmountable pressure of the beefy Philadelphia line should we consider getting rid of this rule. Heck, I am in favor of bringing back Jim Otto plastic helmets with a single bar at the bottom of them. Football is a gladiator sport. We all want to be entertained, dammit! Do you yell, “get in there!” on a tush push when it is fourth and inches?