PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The tush push lives on and former NFL general manager Doug Whaley told the Fan Morning Show it should have stayed to reward the innovation from the Philadelphia Eagles.
“It opens up the playbook and puts the defensive coordinator on his heels because it’s 3rd and 2, are they going to run it?” Whaley said Wednesday with Adam Crowley and Dorin Dickerson. “Are they going to tush push? Are they going to fake it and go deep? It creates a lot of problems for defensive coordinators.”
Crowley pointed out it leads to more offense because of the third and fourth-down conversions and there has been no hard evidence that it leads to injuries.
“Those runs where Najee (Harris) or any player carrying the ball is in a pile and all of a sudden the pile keeps moving and moving and moving,” Whaley said. “That’s an exciting play in the game. You are going to give that up because someone was inventive and ahead of the game and thinking outside of the box.”
“To me it’s sour grapes. It’s not 100%. If it was 100% then I would say it’s a disadvantage. It’s not. Find a way to stop it just like they found a way to be successful at it.”
The Detroit Lions recinded its playoff reseeding proposal where after being a wild card in 2024, Detroit had to play on the road even with a better record than the division winner. Lions wanted the playoffs seeded by record, not by division winners.
“It’s where we are in society and sports, it’s always someone else’s fault,” Whaley said.
“Don’t be bitter, be better.”