There was much controversy and discussion surrounding a possible ban of the "tush push" play the Philadelphia Eagles made famous during the annual owners meetings in March. However, nothing ended up happening. The 32 representatives from the NFL teams decided to delay the vote to ban the play until May and presumably spend the subsequent time doing more research on the play's legality and potential injury risk.
If you thought that meant you were free of seeing tush push content, think again! Last week, Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy discussed the situation as one of the biggest proponents of banning the play entirely. He explained that he's "optimistic" NFL owners will see the light and vote to ban. Remarkably Murphy also managed to reference Bart Starr in the Ice Bowl yet again after doing so in his initial arguments against the tush push.
"I think it ended up in a good place," Murphy said in a one-on-one interview released on Wednesday of last week on the Packers' YouTube channel. "We ended up tabling it but we had really good discussions. Talked a little bit about our safety concerns regarding the play, just kind of the style of the play. But good interaction with the league. So it'll be tabled. And then what we're going to do is, it'll be voted on in the May meeting.
"In 2005, the league did away with the rule that you couldn't push runners. We're going to go back and see the language we had in 2004. I'm optimsitic. I think there's enough people who kind of look at it and say it's really not good for the game. It's more a rugby play than a football play, just kind of go back to what used to be the rule."
There's really nothing more to be said on the matter. The tush push detractors have constantly pointed to injury risk as a primary reason to ban it despite NFL data showing otherwise. Murphy, who introduced the ban in a rule proposal earlier this year, has been consistent in his view that it isn't a football play. And in May, the other owners will decide if they agree.
Until then, stay tuned for more tush push updates.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Packers President Explains Why He's 'Optimistic' NFL Owners Will Ban Tush Push.