Mike Florio ,
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One of the early-season Sunday Splash! reports cautioned against an assumption that there will be another offseason push against the tush push.
Go ahead and make that assumption.
As NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent said on Thursday’s PFT Live , any team can propose a rule change. And, if no one else does, it sounds as if the Cowboys might.
At this week’s ownership meetings, Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones said he believes another tush push-vote is coming.
“Only my opinion, but I think yes, it will be ,” Jones told Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports . “And it has to do with, while the merits of it have really been the merits of the play and the concerns have been addressed, you still see that it’s one that probably has enough criticism that it will come up again. I think it probably will come up for a vote.”
In May, 22 teams voted to get rid of the play. That’s 68.75 percent of the league. The NFL requires a 75-percent supermajority to change rules. With only two more teams flipping from “no” to “yes,” the tush push will be kaput.
Of course, the Eagles would still have an effective quarterback sneak, even without the tush push. And, as Vincent agreed, concerns regarding the difficulty of officiating the play will linger. That comes from the front end, where the linemen are often leaving early, not the back end, where the push happens.
The goalposts have moved multiple times regarding the stated reasons to get rid of the play. In March, it was the risk of serious neck injury. By May, it shifted to aesthetics. Once the officials started missing false starts, it became difficulty to officiate.
It all comes down, frankly, to how badly the league office wants to get rid of it. And whether two arms can be twisted from “no” to “yes.”
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