Falcons shouldn't be among the teams against the tush push.
Punishing a team for being good at something is crazy, but that is what nearly happened on Wednesday after the 'tush push' was nearly banned.
Among the teams who wanted it banned were the Atlanta Falcons—unsurprisingly, considering Raheem Morris had already expressed his desire for its ban.
Falcons got it completely wrong voting for the ban of the tush push
The Falcons should be worried about stopping the tush push rather than outright banning it. It makes no sense to punish a team for perfecting a play; should we have banned Mike Shanahan's outside zone scheme back in the day?
Atlanta was among the 22 teams that voted for its ban. According to Adam Schefter, these ten teams kept it from being banned:
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Baltimore Ravens
- Cleveland Browns
- Detroit Lions
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Miami Dolphins
- New England Patriots
- New Orleans Saints
- New York Jets
- Tennessee Titans
Out of those nine other teams, only one is scheduled to play the Eagles: the Lions. That is quite the flex for Dan Campbell and his team.
The Falcons aren't scheduled to play Philly next season, but they were hoping to prepare for the future by getting it banned before.
The weird thing about this play is that it isn't like other teams can't use the same play. Sure, the Eagles benefit from having a stocky, strong quarterback, but if you watch the play, that isn't the main reason for its success.
Teams could replicate most of its success if they would just dedicate time to perfecting it.
While I don't want to see the Falcons lose a playoff game because of the tush push (not to jinx it), it makes no sense for the league to punish a team for being good at something.
All in all, the Atlanta Falcons got this one wrong.
