The infamous “Tush Push” play has garnered considerable attention throughout the NFL. It has been on everyone’s radar to the point that the league might ban it.
Appearing on a May 18 segment of “The Rich Eisen Show,” Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn was asked about his take on the play that their division rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, have utilized successfully for the past few seasons.
Commanders’ Dan Quinn: ‘Find Ways To Defend It Better’
In the clip, Eisen starts by setting up the question to Quinn, mentioning that the Commanders hadn’t officially given a vote on the matter.
“And coming up, next order of business, outside of the schedule, is the latest membership meeting, where once again the Tush Push will once again be up for debate about whether it should stay or be eliminated from the rulebook,” Eisen said.
“I looked up; I didn’t see how you guys voted on it. What’s your stance on this since obviously the last time we saw you defend it, one of your players was essentially told what I tell my kids in the back of the car. ‘If you do it one more time, I’m gonna pull this car over.'”
Eisen is referring to the NFC Championship Game, which the Commanders lost 55-23. During that game, linebacker Frankie Luvu was doing all he could to stop Philadelphia’s Tush Push by diving over the line of scrimmage while the Eagles were lined up at the 2-yard line. He was flagged a second time, too.
This led the referee, Shawn Hochuli, to say, “Washington has been advised that at some point, the referee can award a score if this type of behavior happens again.”
As PFSN’s Michael Cavallo pointed out, the NFL rulebook reads, “For successive or repeated fouls to prevent a score: If the violation is repeated after a warning, the score involved is awarded to the offensive team.”
“Luvu was looking like he was getting ready for the Olympics, jumping over the line of scrimmage. What’s your two cents on it, Dan?” Eisen finished.
“My two cents, I’m gonna keep digging as hard as I can to make sure we find ways to defend it better and…In terms of adding the play, stopping it, you know, we got a lot of smart people in charge of that,” Quinn said.
“Until that time, if we do or don’t, I’ll spend the time like most coaches would to say, ‘OK, if we angle somebody differently, put people in different spots,’ we’ll go after it that way for sure. But yeah, you’re right, I knew the result of another penalty would be awarded a touchdown, so I knew what was at stake and we were going to go see if we could stop it.”
So, it seems that Quinn isn’t giving up on trying to stop it or planning for it to get banned. He’s working with the coaching staff to devise ways to stop the play that the Eagles succeeded with 81.3% of the time in 2024.
The football world will see what happens with the Tush Push rule this week, as NFL teams will vote on the ban at the league’s meetings.