The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are well represented at The NFL Combine this week. The Combine is typically used for interviewing draft prospects and evaluating them running drills.
Then reports that the Green Bay Packers have petitioned the league to ban the “Tush Push” surfaced. This resulted in media members asking several team’s coaches if the Tush Push should be banned.
Falcons head coach Raheem Morris advocated for banning the “Tush Push” on Tuesday, but one of his NFC South counterparts disagrees, defending the Eagles’ iconic play. And that counterpart would be none other than Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles.
Bowles can boast his recent and impressive 4-1 record against Nick Sirianni’s Eagles, including two playoff victories. His team has dominated the recent matchups, and notably, has found ways to shut down a signature Eagles play that had been nearly unstoppable in recent years.
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Given his team’s success against the Eagles, it’s no surprise that Bowles expressed on PFT Live that he thinks it’s up to opposing teams to find ways to stop the play, rather than relying on the league to ban it.
“The safety of it is always going to be a question because it’s a rugby-style play, but I have nothing against it,” Bowles stated. “You found guys that are being creative and found the niche and how to gain an edge in this league and that’s what we as coaches try to do on a daily basis. Now it’s up to defensive coaches to try to gain an edge to try to stop it. That’s the challenge of it every time someone brings something new whether it’s offense or defense. I’m all for it that way.”
The debate over the play’s legitimacy has sparked opinions from various coaches and General Managers, with the Packers formally proposing a ban. However, it’s uncertain whether the issue will be brought to a league-wide vote involving all 32 teams this offseason.
The BR Rub
Look, everyone rolls their eyes when Philadelphia lines up in the Tush Push. That’s mainly because it’s so hard to stop. But you can’t just ban things because they’re hard to stop or figure out. Imagine if the league banned the 49ers West Coast offense because it was hard to stop? Now imagine if the league banned the Tampa Two because it was to hard to play against? Go way back to the birth of the forward pass, imagine banning that? See where we’re going here?
The point here is the NFL is an ever-growing, ever-evolving entity. It thrives on innovation, strategy, and physicality. The Tush Push is all three of those traits. So when an organization like the Packers moves to ban it, what they’re really saying is they lack the physicality, strategy, and innovation to combat it. In a sense they’re giving up.
This is also true for Falcons Head Coach Raheem Morris’ take. Look Rah, we know you don’t like giving up your clubbing time for anything, especially something that’s hard to figure out. But that’s exactly what you, a defensive minded Head Coach is supposed to do. What happened to looking a challenge in the eye and saying, ” bring it on”? Maybe this is why your teams don’t finish games or seasons strong? They see you quit on something like this and see it as you setting the standard.
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