NFL Looking At Potentially Eliminate Quarterback Push

The Philadelphia Eagles used the quarterback push so much, and so efficiently in 2022, that the NFL is now considering banning it next season. It should be banned for all players, not just quarterbacks.

Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

NASHVILLE - According to a published report from the website 33rdTeam, where Dean Blandino serves as a rules official for the site, along with his role on Fox Sports NFL broadcasts, the league is going to take a serious look at eliminating the quarterback push play in 2023.

"I think the league is going to look at this, and I'd be shocked if they don't make a change," said Dean Blandino, a rules analyst for Fox Sports and The 33rd Team, who was the NFL's vice president of officiating from 2013 to 2017, told the site.

Blandino continues, "I was talking to (Denver Broncos coach) Sean Payton during Sunday's game, and he said we're going to do this every time next season if they don't take it out."

"It amounts to a rugby scrum. The NFL wants to showcase the athleticism and skill of our athletes. This is just not a skillful play. This is just a tactic that is not an aesthetically pleasing play, and I think the competition committee is going to take a look at it."

At one time, pushing the ball carrier was illegal in both the NFL and college football; however, both changed the rules to allow it, with the NFL doing so in 2005 and college in 2013.

While I might be in the minority, I've never been a fan of this as part of this being part of the game. As a child growing up and watching college and pro football, it was always about the ability of the ball carrier to battle on his own to gain as much yardage as possible before being tackled.

The run game is now often about three or four 300-pound guys getting behind someone and pushing them as far as possible before five or six guys from the other team can stop them.

The NFL Rules Committee meets in Indianapolis before the upcoming Combine and again in Phoenix before the owners meeting; not only should that group look into banning the quarterback push, they should take it one step further and ban pushing from behind by ANY teammates altogether.

Let's get back to football as it should be and leag rugby to the guys who play it. 

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