Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David does not want the NFL to ban the “tush push.”
The Green Bay Packers introduced a proposed rule change to ban the play, which has been used effectively by the Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills for the past several seasons. The Bucs defense, led by the veteran David, was one of the few teams able to stop the play. Appearing on “The Rich Eisen Show“ on March 26, David repeatedly said he would not support banning the play, adding that stopping the play is just part of the game.
Eisen began the exchange by posing a hypothetical where David would be voting as part of the NFL’s Competition Committee on behalf of Buccaneers ownership. He then asked David how he would vote.
“Personally, man, I was a part of one of the teams to stop the ’tush push,'” David responded. “So I’m not against it. ... I don’t mind it.”
Eisen then pressed him on the question, noting that the rule proposal is for pace of play and player safety, and that the Buccaneers’ stopping it should not affect his vote. The host offered him a chance to reconsider the play on its merits.
David reiterated that he did not have a problem with the play. “I just feel like it’s a football play,” he said. “And when they call it, you know, me, the competitor in me, I want to stop it. And when they call it, you already know it’s going to happen. Either one of two things: [They’re] going to do like a different look out of it; or [they’re] going to actually run it. So [you’ve] got to just put your big boy pants on and stop it.”
“I’m not going to cry about it,” he added. “[If] they get the first down or whatever, I feel like it gives me another chance [to] stop them and get off the field. [At the] end of the day, man, don’t let them get in those situations where they can do it.”
Eisen accepted the argument, but pushed back again, pointing out that David cannot push 6'4, 350-pound defensive tackle Vita Vea, so it should not be fair for Eagles running back Saquon Barkley to push quarterback Jalen Hurts from behind. David said it was “a great argument” but said he liked his chances with Vea.
The Eagles pioneered the “tush push” play, a.k.a. the “Brotherly Shove,” to great effect; the Bills have also had great success with their own version of the play. According to a report from ESPN, the Eagles and Bills have a combined conversion rate of 87 percent on 163 attempts in the past three seasons, while the rest of the league has a 71 percent conversion rate. The play is a variation on the traditional quarterback sneak, where the players lined up behind the quarterback push him from behind.
The Buccaneers were the team that earned the most notoriety for stopping the play, but they were far from the first team to try. The Washington Commanders made headlines during the NFC Championship Game in January as linebacker Frankie Luvu repeatedly jumped over the line of scrimmage in an attempt to stop the play by timing the snap, but referees warned him that they were allowed to award a touchdown by rule if he continued.
The Green Bay Packers’ proposed rule says: No offensive player may ... immediately at the snap, push or throw his body against a teammate, who was lined up directly behind the snapper and received the snap, to aid him in an attempt to gain yardage.
The rule change has been met with skepticism by the committee, and as many football analysts have noted over the past several years, the play is driven mostly by leverage and “organized mass” rather than any push from behind, meaning that the proposed rule, by its current wording, would not have much effect.
