Rooney: Steelers Were in Favor of Banning Tush Push
PALM BEACH, Fla. — The ban on the “tush push” was tabled until a future meeting in May, but Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II said the team supported that ban.
“We were in favor of the rule as proposed,” Rooney said at the NFL owner’s meeting on Tuesday. “It’s a fairly narrow proposal in terms of just eliminating the ability to push the quarterback on a quarterback sneak. So we were in favor of that.”
According to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, there were 16 teams who were in favor of banning the tush push. That’s eight short of the amount needed for the proposal to pass.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, who’s a member of the competition committee, weighed in on the controversial tush push at the NFL owner’s meetings.
“I think we’re still in hot debate on it,” Tomlin said on Sunday. “We just left the meeting where some other further discussions have been had, and it might even change here in the next 24 hours in terms of some of the language or the trajectory of some of the arguments based on the change in potential language, but it applies to that and all of the other proposals that we’re discussing. It’s really fluid at this point.”
The Green Bay Packers‘ proposal to ban the tush push had support within the competition committee, a source with direct knowledge told ESPN on Sunday.
Tomlin credits the Philadelphia Eagles for being innovative, but player safety plays a significant factor into whether the play will remain legal or not.
“The first time I saw it, I couldn’t believe that it was legal because it was illegal on the field goal,” Tomlin said. “That being said. You hate to be against it, because when people are innovative, you want to respect that
“There’s certainly been some teams that have been more innovative than the rest of us… we hate to penalize them for it. But we got into the discussion on the field goal block because of player safety, and so that still remains to be a component of the discussion.”
Tomlin said he’s leaning on “perspective of the medical experts” rather than stats because there’s not a large enough sample size.
“A lot of other plays, we have a much larger volume to choose from — 40,000 plays a year in football. I think it was 170 or so tush pushes,” he said.
Kalyn Kahler of ESPN reported that, on Sunday, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, assistant G.M. Jon Ferrari, and Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay and Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott had a “private and animated side conversation” about the proposed change.
Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said at the NFL owner’s meetings that player safety should come first in regards to the tush push.
“Yeah, I don’t know, you can argue it either way. I’ve felt like it’s a successful play,” Reid said on Monday. “If there’s a problem with injury, possible injury, you’ve got to look at it. So, I would listen, probably, to the medical people on it, see what they think about the body mechanics. You don’t want to go through something like Buffalo went through — if it’s a neck situation, it’s going to be a risk. I think you have to listen to the whole story.
“[T]here’s a whole medical side of it. I give them credit because they’ve done a heck of a job with it. Tough play to stop. But, then you’re listening to that and the medical side and you probably could go either way with it. But I would say, if it’s putting a player in a bad position, then you probably have to do something about it. But if it’s not, it’s a heck of a play.”
Alan Saunders contributed reporting from Palm Beach, Fla.