NFL's 'Tush Push' Has Two Big Strikes Against It

The NFL rules committee is poised to decide soon whether to ban the play known as the "tush push," though the AP reports it won't happen on Tuesday. When the rules-makers do get around to deciding, sportswriter Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post hopes the play gets outlawed for good. In her (entertaining) column, Jenkins makes the argument that the play manages to be both dull and dangerous. Dull because it involves a mass of men pushing the QB forward for a yard or two against an opposing mass of men—and because it nearly always works (just ask the Super Bowl champs Philadelphia Eagles, who perfected it). It's simultaneously dangerous for obvious reasons involving physics and fragile necks.

"Ban the tush push," writes Jenkins. "Touchdowns should not be inevitable, and neither should brutality and boredom." Jenkins argues that the NFL has spent decades livening up the game—moving away from boring plays like this one, which harkens back to the era of 1890s football. Throughout the piece, she ticks off things the tush push is duller than, including home insurance, Ed Sheeran, traffic, dry bread, and "a Harry and Megan wellness pitch." Unless it gets banned, expect every time to make liberal use of it in game after game, she writes. (Read the full column.)