We're only a few weeks away from finding out the final verdict on the Tush Push -- the signature play that the Philadelphia Eagles have mastered like no other team in the NFL.
However, if Eagles running back Saquon Barkley had his way, the idea of banning the play wouldn’t even be on the table.
"If you don't like it, get better at stopping it," Barkley told ESPN. "It's not like a play we only could do. Everybody does it. Everybody tries it. We're just super successful at it. They were super successful at it before I was there. I know what it does to a team. How it breaks down a team.
"And now being on a team, you're lining up everyone knows what you are doing. It's like stop me and they can't. So they're going to be in their feels about it and try to make changes, but I don't see that happening. And if it doesn't, just get better at stopping it."
Barkley is right. Any team can run the special version of a quarterback sneak, but Philly just happens to be a lot better at it than the rest of the league.
The Eagles boast a Tush Push conversion rate of around 86% compared to the league average of 76% in recent seasons.
Will the Tush Push Be Banned?
The biggest question of the NFL offseason right now is: Will the Tush Push be banned?
The proposed ban is supposedly about player safety, which is kind of odd considering there’s barely any real evidence that the play is dangerous.
Still, the debate over the Tush Push continues and will remain front and center until the owners meet later this month.
At present, 16 teams support banning or modifying the play, but the NFL requires 24 votes to pass any rule change.
According to ESPN’s top NFL insider, Adam Schefter, if Roger Goodell wants those remaining eight votes, he’ll get them.
“I think if we go and we parse through what the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodel,l told reporters at his post-league meeting press conference, I think it became pretty apparent that he and others want the tush push out of the game," Schefter said.
"There are 16 votes that they've gotten. 16 teams willing to overturn the Tush Push and have it banned."The league needs 24 votes. And Roger Goodell is a master at getting the votes he needs for the issues he wants... Rest assured, they're going to be working to get those 24 votes before the main meeting in Minneapolis. And I believe, ultimately, they will get them."
We’ll find out soon enough the ultimate fate of the Tush Push when the league meetings start on May 20. Until then, the rest of the league might want to take Barkley's advice and keep working on how to stop it.
