Philadelphia rejoiced this summer when the NFL owners failed to get their 3/4 majority vote to ban the Tush Push. We were safe for at least 1 more year. The NFL is going to make damn sure they have the votes next year. Their Anti-Tush Push push has already started. Each week the call to get it banned will get louder and louder.
What Was Said
I thought it was pretty curious during the end of the Eagles-Chiefs game when the NFLs former VP of Officiating and current Fox Rules Analyst Dean Blandino said “I am done with the Tush Push guys, it’s a hard play to officiate.” Excuse me? Where did this come from? Since when is it hard to officiate? The NFL had no problem penalizing the Eagles on the play over the last 3 years with any minor infraction, but all of a sudden it’s hard to officiate?
Now I don’t think there was some kind of in-game officiating conspiracy to NOT call a false start going on, but after “player safety” was an unsupported and ultimately losing argument for the league last year, my ears went up at this completely new talking point. My first thought was that this unsolicited and subjective opinion from a guy who usually keeps things vanilla and rules based is clearly going to be the new narrative behind the ban. This was quickly confirmed.
All anyone could talk about the rest of Sunday and into Monday was how the Eagles are cheating because the officials didn’t call [a completely exaggerated amount of] penalties against the Eagles. Where did they get this from? Well, other than Blandino, Tom Brady claimed that the Eagles were “stealing” a yard every series because of the play. There are much better ways of him getting his point across rather than using the criminal word “stealing.” He knew what he was saying. I might also add that there was absolutely ZERO commentary from Brady, Blandino, or Kevin Burkhardt about the Chiefs lining up offsides on the very same plays they are killing the Eagles about.
It didn’t end with the broadcast though. On Monday, we heard Adam Schefter claim that officials were “intimidated” by the play and that the Eagles were always jumping offsides and getting head starts (not true even a little bit). The killer though was this quote:
“The biggest thing here to me is this game was lost in March. This game was lost when the NFL owners refused to ban the tush push. It wasn’t lost yesterday. It was lost in March! There might be a lot of games the Eagles play that are lost in March.”
Adam Schefter has almost 12 million followers on Twitter and is the authority on breaking news and reaching NFL fans. This subjective and aggressive opinion coming from him is completely out of character.
Then on Tuesday, after excoriating the play from an officiating standpoint, ESPN’s Mike Greenberg called it “unwatchable” and an “abomination.” He then called Eagles fans “sensitive” about the issue which is some dog-whistling bullshit. Another host (no idea who it is, I don’t watch) called it “disgusting” while claiming it’s a bad TV product. Why are they taking this play as such a personal affront? I know why…
Why It’s Important
Last year, the rhetoric was strictly online and from fanbases who either lost to the Eagles or were in direct competition in the NFC. This year, it has spilled over into the mainline talking points on ESPN and the game commentary where EVERYONE is going to hear the negativity from so called experts. The thing about experts is that they are supposed to be objective. Is that what we are getting?
On August 1st, news broke that ESPN was acquiring NFL Redzone and NFL Media in a multi-billion dollar deal that leaves the NFL as 10% owners of ESPN. So, who is paying Adam Schefter’s salary? Who is paying Mike Greenberg and that other nameless a-hole’s salary? Oh that’s right, it’s the NFL.
Then there’s Tom Brady. Brady was allowed to purchase a minority stake in the Las Vegas Raiders last season for around $200m. Curiously, he is also allowed to keep his job with Fox Sports that pays him $375m over 10 years. By having that job, Brady has access to players, coaches, and teams, that are not allowed for any other owner. He also gets to preach his opinions, and therefore those of the Raiders, to approximately 30 million viewers. Either he should have had to resign from the job or not been approved for ownership.
Let’s not forget FOX, CBS, NBC and the rest of the networks who are heavily invested in the NFL and will all show Eagles games at some point this season. They will pay the NFL around $110 BILLION over the next 8 years. Getting these coveted contracts is an arms race that the NFL exploits to the cent. They are ALL interested in keeping the league’s favor. Will they be so critical of the Tush Push when the Eagles inevitably run it successfully on their airwaves? You can bet on it.
Say Goodbye to the Tush Push
The full court press (full field?) being employed by the NFL against the Tush Push will get louder by the end of the season. The public, which was probably about 50/50 on the play coming into the season will see it’s support dwindle as their ears are blasted with negativity in the coming weeks. The few remaining ownership holdouts over the vote will be massaged as best as possible. In the end, they will use this new officiating angle to support the vote next season. Despite it being completely preposterous (don’t eliminate the play, just officiate better) just like the injury angle last year, the ban will probably pass.
Remember, the league changes the rules to help Josh Allen, and enforces them to the letter to protect Patrick Mahomes, but for the Eagles and the Tush Push it’s utterly, utterly hopeless and must be stopped. Cowards.
Philly Front Office 
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