Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley sees weakness in the NFL teams looking to ban the tush push.
The Green Bay Packers made a strong campaign this offseason to ban the Eagles’ infamous short-yardage play. The Packers’ proposal to outlaw the tush push needed supporting votes from 24 of the 32 teams but only got 22.
Earlier this week, Barkley appeared on the “Exciting Mics” podcast hosted by his Eagles teammates Cooper DeJean and Reed Blankenship. The reigning Offensive Player of the Year did not mince words when asked about the movement to ban the tush push.
Barkley called opposing teams “soft” for simply not being as good at the play as the Eagles, who have perfected the technique, much to the dismay of defensive coordinators across the league.
“I think it’s soft, to be honest,” Barkley said, via USA Today’s Nick Brinkerhoff. “Everybody can do it. It’s not a play that we only can do. We happen to have one of the best and biggest O-lines, and Jalen Hurts can squat 600 pounds. That’s not our fault.”
“Josh Allen is super big, they’re not successful with it. Lamar Jackson is one of the best running quarterbacks of all-time, they’re not successful with it. So it’s not something that everyone can’t do. Them trying to eliminate it, I think that’s kind of lame.”
Barkley also harped on the fact that the franchises that voted to ban the tush push were primarily teams that would play the Eagles “two or three times a year.”
Only three of the 10 teams that voted to keep the tush push were from the NFC. The Eagles were, obviously, one of them. The Detroit Lions and the New Orleans Saints were the other two.
The tush push is here to stay, at least for now.
