Tush Push

When the Philadelphia Eagles lined up for their first “tush push” it was considered an innovative thing. It was built up as something new. It wasn’t. The formation and play is actually one of football’s oldest plays. Football stepped away from rugby in the 1880s when Walter Camp created the concepts of “downs” and “yards to gain.” Coaches and players began to script plays with a mass of humanity focused on the middle of this new line of scrimmage. These wedge formations became the rage of the game. Here’s a description of the formation and ensuing play:

The players arranged themselves in a wedge with only the center on the line of scrimmage. Each man placed his hands on the hips of the man in front. When the ball was snapped, the players closed in tight and shoved. The ball carrier was protected on all sides.

Sound familiar? This play became the game. It was a whole lot of pushing and shoving. A moving mass of humanity. It also turned the game of football into a bloodbath. It’s amazing that it rolled on like this for nearly two decades. Bones were shattered. Backs were broken. Heads were crushed. The number of critics of the game grew with each year. In the early 1900s, newspapers started publishing the body counts. High school and college players were dying. It got so bad that President Theodore Roosevelt demanded that football’s collegiate leaders make changes or the game will be banned. Instead of losing their game, Camp and company made some changes. One of those changes was banning the “mass momentum” plays. 

The “tush push” was banned in the 1900s. Seeing as the NFL installed college football’s rule book as their rule book with their formation in 1920, the “tush push” was banned by the new professional league. To my knowledge, the play wasn’t “legalized” when the NFL started crafting their own rule book following the 1932 season. No one seems to care about that little nugget. No one seems to care that the “tush push” is already a banned play. Then again, most of today’s football people can’t see anything that took place before Super Bowl I. 

My biggest problem with this damn play is the history behind that everyone’s ignoring. Over 100 years ago, it was hotly debated. It was more hotly debated than it is today. That’s because football’s survival was in the balance. The play is dangerous. One can say that all football plays are dangerous. It’s the nature of the game. We might not ever see Jalen Hurts hurt on the play. Good for him. Good for the Eagles. We might see a quarterback that can’t squat a house try the play behind an offensive line that isn’t one of the best in recent memory. We might see that little quarterback get his bones shattered, his head crushed, his back broken. Is that a reason to punish the Eagles for being perfectly situated to run the play? Yes! It’s a dangerous play. The play is designed to be dangerous. 

And, it’s been banned before! The damn play is probably still banned.