The NFL has decided to table voting on the elimination of the "Tush Push," according to several reports.
To be clear, this is not a good development for the Philadelphia Eagles, who of course run the controversial play extremely successfully, and better than every other team in the NFL. The league will instead vote on the proposal to ban it at meetings in Minnesota in May.
The main rationale that teams who want to ban the play have offered is that it is theoretically an unsafe play, despite a lack of data to confirm their position. The proposal was not expected to receive the necessary 24 votes needed to eliminate the play.
Scuttlebutt at the NFL Owners Meetings in Palm Beach, Florida has been that NFL coaches have been more resistant to ban the play than the league's owners. Every coach in the NFL is in attendance at the meetings in Palm Beach. Few will be present in Minnesota, where the owners would have a better chance of pushing (pardon the pun) the proposal through without coaches' interference.
The proposal's language is also at play. In speaking with people around the league at the NFL Owner's Meetings, several coaches were of the mindset that they would not vote for the proposal to ban the play, as written, but would consider voting to ban it if the language were made clearer.
Basically, the cowardly babies around the league who want to ban the play knew the vote wouldn't pass, so they're punting the vote to May, when they have a better chance of getting their way.
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