The Tush Push Conundrum - The NFL Scrum

[steve B]

I'm surprised it's allowed.

In 1909 this was a fairly typical play. Teams even had handles on some players pants to help grip as the player was stuffed through the line.

In an October 30 game with Harvard, Cadet Eugene Byrne of Army suffered a broken neck and died the next day. Army cancelled the rest of its season.
During the off season rules were changed to essentially eliminate the play and encourage more passing. In a way those changed helped create the modern game as we know it.

The lower of these two covers probably carried tickets to that October 30 game.

[mortimer brewster]

At one time, wasn't it illegal for a ball carrier to be aided by one or more of his offensive players thus making the tush push illegal?

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by mortimer brewster

At one time, wasn't it illegal for a ball carrier to be aided by one or more of his offensive players thus making the tush push illegal?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helping_the_runner


Made legal in 2005. Hasn't been called as a penalty since 1991...and even then it was because a player "pulled" another player...not pushed them.

I've seen players pushed ahead in scrums as long as I can remember watching football. As long as forward momentum isn't stopped, and the ref hasn't blown the whistle.