One of the biggest NFL storylines this week has been about the Eagles' dominant tush push play and how some in the league are not a fan of it and even want it to be banned.
One of those who has issues with the play is Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott, whose team tried a version of it during their playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. They didn't run it as well as the Eagles have done it over the years, and failed to pick up a key first down.
“To me, there’s always been an injury risk with that play, and I’ve expressed that opinion for the last couple of years or so when it really started to come into play the way it’s being used, especially a year ago,” McDermott said Monday. “So, I just feel like, player safety, and the health and safety of our players has to be at the top of our game, which it is. It’s just that play to me has always been, or the way that the techniques that are used with that play, to me have been potentially contrary to the health and safety of the players. And so again, you have to go back though in fairness to the injury data on the play, but I just think the optics of it, I’m not in love with.”
NFL Network's Colleen Wolfe, who is from the Philadelphia area and is a fan of the Super Bowl champs, had a message for McDermott when she was asked about his feelings on the play.
“It’s hypocritical for Sean McDermott to want this play to be banned when he uses it so much,” Wolfe said during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show. “But you know what? Why don’t you come up with a play that can’t be stopped either? Why don’t you defy physics? The Eagles did it, so you can, too.”
She added:
“Todd Bowles even said, it’s up to defensive coaches and defensive players to stop the tush push from working. And if you can’t do it, then that’s your problem. But the Eagles have figured out how to execute a play perfectly and make it their own. So I don’t think that now they should have to not do it anymore and it be banned from the league. Come on, let’s get better at defending it. How about that?”
Here are her full comments:
The tush push play remains legal, but we'll have to wait and see if that soon changes.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Network Host Unleashes on Bills’ Sean McDermott for His Concerns About Tush Push Play.
