As the NFL's annual league meeting wraps up Wednesday in Palm Beach, Fla., the biggest topic throughout has been the future of the "tush push," the Philadelphia Eagles' famous short-yardage creation that involves players in the backfield pushing the quarterback's, well, tush toward the first-down marker or goal line.
As many as 16 NFL owners—and, it appears, commissioner Roger Goodell—agree with the Green Bay Packers' proposal to ban the play, a rule change that was tabled for now until the spring meeting in Minnesota next month. The Kelce brothers, however, would like the play to remain in the game they love.
"I get it. I get why certain teams want to ban it for competitive reasons," former Eagles center Jason Kelce said on the latest episode of the New Heights podcast. "I get why some people think that it's potentially unsafe. I think optically it looks unsafe. For me personally, I never felt like there's that much more more of a risk of injuring somebody on the play, and I don't think there's any statistics to back that up. ... I think the only argument I see for potentially banning it is—is there a competitive advantage? Is it unfair that players can push? And should we allow players to push rather than ball carriers or anybody to have to do things on their own?
"I think it's going to be a hard rule to enforce. When is that enforced? Are gang tackles outlawed? When [Chiefs center] Creed Humphrey gets behind a running back [in the open field] and pushing the pile forward—do we not want that? Because I like that."
His brother, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, completely agreed.
"There are four downs that a team gets to get a first down or get in the end zone," the younger Kelce brother said. "If the tush push is just one play that you run when you have a short-yardage situation, those may come up a handful of times throughout a game. You can't get upset at that one play. ... I think it's a football type of play. ... I don't think we need to be banning this."
Jason Kelce then compared the exertion required to execute the play to, well, going to the bathroom. Watch for yourself (at the 16:15 mark):
Never change, Kelce bros.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jason, Travis Kelce React to NFL Owners Considering Banning Eagles' Tush Push Play.
