PALM BEACH, Fla. – There will be no change to the Tush Push rule. Not yet anyway.
NFL owners voted on Tuesday to table the decision on whether to ban the play that the Philadelphia Eagles and, to a lesser extent, the Buffalo Bills, have made so successful.
"There was a lot of discussion," said competition committee co-chair Rich McKay. "A lot of teams had a lot of views."
Reportedly 16 of the 32 teams were in favor of the ban. Twenty-four votes are needed for a rule to pass.
The rule will likely be discussed further when owners meet again in May. One possibility is revisiting the long-standing rule that was deleted in 2004 that preventing pushing or pulling teammates anywhere on the field. That rule was eliminated because it was difficult for officials to determine if blockers downfield were blocking opponents or pushing a teammate.
Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon wouldn't get specific on his thoughts about the play, other than to say "Nick (Sirianni) knows where I stand on it," referring to Philadelphia's coach and his former boss.
"There are a lot of smart people in that room," Gannon said of the debate, "and there are good valid points on both sides of the coin."
The owners did approve making the dynamic kickoff permanent in the game after it's one-year trial, although the rule was tweaked to make touchbacks come out to the 35-yard line in an effort to discourage deep kicks and create more returns.
Also passing were additional replay assist for certain plays (but only to pick up a flag and not to call a previously uncalled penalty) and the use of the playoff overtime rules in the regular season.
A proposal to change how teams were seeded for the playoffs was also tabled.
Gannon admitted that he isn't exactly thrilled to have touchbacks create a mere 65 yards for an offense to travel – "No defensive guy is," he said – but as with every choice, the Cardinals will know the rules and find ways to play within them.
The return team can also add a third player to the second level of blocking now, allowing for a 6-3-2 alignment instead of 7-2-2. There were about 29 percent of kickoffs returned last season. The league wants that number to grow to between 60 and 70 percent.
A tweak to the onside kickoffs was also tabled. Right now, a team can only onside in the fourth quarter; there was a proposal a team could do it earlier in the game as long as it was behind.
As for replay assist, "If we are trying to get it right and it doesn't impact the speed of the game, I'm all for it."
The overtime rule means both teams get a possession regardless of if the first team scores a touchdown. However, the regular-season overtime period remains only 10 minutes before it becomes a tie, and if one team can hold the ball all 10 minutes and score on the final play, the game is over.
