INDIANAPOLIS 鈥 The Buffalo Bills have had a lot of success running the so-called tush push with quarterback Josh Allen in recent seasons.
In spite of that, or maybe in part because of it, coach Sean McDermott on Monday expressed his concerns about the play from a player-safety perspective.
鈥淭o me there鈥檚 always been an injury risk with that play and I鈥檝e expressed that opinion for the last couple of years or so when it really started to come into play the way it鈥檚 been used, especially a year ago,鈥 McDermott said Monday at the NFL scouting combine. 鈥淚 just feel like player safety, and the health and safety of our players has to be at the top of our game, which it is. It鈥檚 just that that play to me has always been 鈥 or the way that the techniques that are used with that play to me, have been potentially contrary to the health and safety of the players.
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The tush push play is often chaotic. With Josh Allen at the helm, however, the Bills have used it successfully in recent seasons.
鈥淎gain, you have to go back though, in fairness, to the injury data on the play, but I just think the optics of it I鈥檓 not in love with.鈥
On Monday, NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said that a team had proposed banning the play, which features the quarterback being pushed from behind by either one or multiple teammates. The Athletic later reported that it was the Green Bay Packers who had proposed the rule change banning the play.
Retiring Packers president Mark Murphy, a Clarence native, has previously expressed an opinion that he feels like the play should be banned. For that to ultimately happen, at least 24 teams would need to be in favor of the rule change. If the Packers鈥 proposal gets to a vote, it would take place at next month鈥檚 meeting of NFL owners.
McDermott is a member of the NFL鈥檚 competition committee, which reviews all competitive aspects of the game, including game rules, roster regulations, technology, game-day operations and player protection. As such, his opinion聽on the tush-push play is particularly noteworthy.
The Bills coach also weighed in Monday on the possibility of the league tweaking the new kickoff rule that went into place last week. On Sunday, Rich McKay, the co-chairman of the competition committee, brought up the possibility of touchbacks on kickoffs that fly into the end zone being moved from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line. Another possibility would be to have kickers move back 5 yards and kick off from their team's 30-yard line instead of the current 35-yard line.
Both moves would have the same intention: to increase the number of kickoff returns in the game. While the rate of kickoffs went up from 2023 to 2024, it was still the league鈥檚 second-lowest rate since the 2000 season.
"I鈥檓 not going to get into where it鈥檚 at in terms of being approved or not, just my own opinion on it. We know the obvious thing is you鈥檙e going to get more potential returns, which I think is good for the game, personally,鈥 McDermott said. 鈥淪o you never know when you move things a little bit, even if (it is) small tweaks, kind of the residual effects of those tweaks, right? So, you鈥檙e never really sure how the overall game is going to get affected. But I like where and what the kickoff did this year for our game. Do we leave it alone, or do we move it a little bit just to the right or to the left? We鈥檒l see where that goes.鈥
