‘It’s a little insulting:’ Nick Sirianni lashes out at Tush Push haters

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/little-insulting-nick-sirianni-lashes-070000845.html

‘It’s a little insulting:’ Nick Sirianni lashes out at Tush Push haters originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Nick Sirianni lashed out Tuesday at those who want to ban the Tush Push, essentially saying that some teams want to eliminate it not out of their purported concern over player safety but simply because the Eagles are so good at it.

Sirianni, speaking to reporters at the Combine in Indianapolis, gave his strongest defense yet of a play the Eagles have used with tremendous success in goal-line and short-yardage situations over the last three years. A play nobody else seems to get right.

Several coaches at the Combine have spoken out against the Tush Push, citing player safety.

Sirianni bristled at that notion.

“I think when you look at that, because we’ve looked into that too, there weren’t a lot of injuries there,” he said. “I think that’s a little made up, to be honest. Now the numbers will tell the truth, but I don’t think there were many injuries with it this year.

“I mean, I can’t remember one injury we had on that play, and we ran it more than everybody else. And so, yeah, the injury numbers, the league will have that, and the injury numbers will come out on that, and I’m all for player safety, but I don’t think that that play (is dangerous). I think that’s just something that was said.”

It would be up to the NFL’s competition committee to come up with rules that detail exactly which elements of the play would be banned. Then it would take a vote of at least 24 of the 32 NFL teams to approve a formal proposal to get rid of the play.

Sirianni suspects the real reason behind teams opposing the Tush Push is simply that the Eagles are really good at it. Nobody has come up with any data that shows the play is any more dangerous than any other play.

“We teach when a ball carrier is in a pile, on a run, Saquon’s in a pile on a run, the offensive line gets behind him and pushes him. You can’t sprint behind him and crush the pile. You can’t pull there. But that’s something that we see throughout (the league). And we’ve had some success on that, as well. No one’s going to tell the defense to stop pushing. You know, ‘Hey, one guy’s enough. You can’t add anybody else into it.’

“Obviously I’m protective of it because we’ve had success with it (and) I think that the competition committee will do a good job of looking at everything.”

The Eagles are really good at the goal-line push because they have a quarterback who’s got incredible strength in his legs and an offensive line that can shove even the most powerful defensive linemen out of the way. But the Eagles also work very diligently on perfecting every aspect of the Tush Push, and Sirianni says it’s a skill play as much as it is a brute strength play.

Ironic that Sean McDermott came out against the Tush Push on Tuesday, a month after the Bills went 0-for-4 on the play in the AFC Championship Game against the Chiefs.

“I’ve seen some of the stuff like, ‘Well, you know, that is an automatic play,’” Sirianni said. “I almost feel a little insulted because we’ve worked so hard at that play. The amount of things that we’ve looked into how to coach that play, the fundamentals, there’s a thousand plays out there, but it comes down to how you teach the fundamentals and how the players go through and do (it) with the fundamentals.

“I can’t tell you how many times we practice the snap, we practice the play because it’s not a play that’s easy to practice. There’s different ways we’ve figured out how to practice it and how (it) can create explosive plays. Like, we work really, really hard and our guys are talented at this play and so it’s a little insulting to say, you know, we’re good at it, so it’s automatic. We work really hard at it.

“And you see it throughout the league. I mean, we saw it in the (AFC) championship games that, you know, a team failed at it and ultimately didn’t end up winning the game because of it. … And so I think that it’s a skill that our team has because of the players that we have, the way the coaches coach it. Again, there’s just so much time put into it.

“The fact that it’s a successful play for the Eagles and people want to take that away, I think it’s a little unfair. Just because it’s a successful play for us doesn’t mean that it should go away.”

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/little-insulting-nick-sirianni-lashes-070000845.html