The Philadelphia Eagles have frustrated many of their opponents with the tush push, but Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh has made it clear he is not one of the people calling for the play to be banned.
NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said Monday that an unnamed team has formally proposed a rule that would ban the tush push. A report later revealed that the Green Bay Packers are the team seeking to remove the so-called “Brotherly Shove” from the NFL.
Harbaugh was asked about the play and offered a very blunt replay, via Fox News — “get good at it or stop it.”
“It just seems like it works every single time, but it seems like football to me. Get good at it or stop it,” Harbaugh said. “I don’t have a strong opinion on it right now and probably defer to others and see which way the vote goes. Get good at it ourselves, or get in position to stop it.”
It is hardly a surprise that the Packers are the team looking to have the tush push banned. In a recent Q&A on his team’s official website, Packers president Mark Murphy openly complained about the play. Murphy said there is “no skill involved” with the play. You can read his full comments.
There has been talk of banning the tush push for over a year. The NFL and NFLPA had said they were planning to study the injury data related to the play to determine whether there are safety concerns. To this point, there has been no data that would support doing away with the play because of injury risk.
The Eagles used the tush push multiple times during their Super Bowl run. There was one sequence of plays during the NFC Championship Game where the Washington Commanders kept jumping offsides when they knew Jalen Hurts was about to run the play. The Eagles eventually scored, but many fans learned about a stunning NFL rule in the process.
Harbaugh’s old-school mentality about the tush push is right on brand for the Chargers coach. He knows that if the play truly required no skill, the Eagles would not be the only team to have perfected it. Defenses simply have to find a more efficient way to stop it.
