Long live the Tush Push. At least for another season. Saved by a close vote at the league\u2019s owner meetings Wednesday, the play remains legal in 2026. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette\u2019s Ray Fittipaldo believes the Pittsburgh Steelers must find a way to utilize the play for as long as it\u2019s allowed.<\/p>\n
Doubling down on a suggestion<\/a> he made shortly after the resolution to ban the play failed, Fittipaldo thinks Pittsburgh should get creative with who does the tushin\u2019 and who does the pushin\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cYou gotta teach somebody,\u201d Fittipaldo told 93.7 The Fan\u2019s Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller<\/a> Thursday. \u201cI mean, you got four months to do it. Teach Darnell Washington how to take a snap from center and put two big guys behind him and push \u2019em forward. Give it to Ben, let Ben Skowronek take a snap. I\u2019m sure there are guys on that football team who have been quarterbacks or who have that in their arsenal. So I think the Steelers should do it.\u201d<\/p>\n With Aaron Rodgers the possible\/probable Steelers\u2019 quarterback, he won\u2019t be an option for those rugby-like scrums. Not at 41 years old and two years removed from an Achilles tear while battling a knee injury last season. Mason Rudolph probably won\u2019t be the answer, either. Instead, Fittipaldo believes a non-quarterback can handle those duties.<\/p>\n Unusual as it sounds, it\u2019s an idea teams have dabbled with. The Kansas City Chiefs once used Blake Bell, a college quarterback at Oklahoma, for a successful quarterback sneak<\/a> before the Tush Push became an idea. In 2022, backup tight end Noah Gray snapped the ball<\/a> and burrowed over the goal line for a touchdown. Washington weighs apparently well 300 over pounds,<\/a> profiling like an offensive lineman more so than a tight end.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh\u2019s short-yardage woes were one of many offensive failures last season. The team finished 29th converting third\/fourth down and 1-2 yards to go and was comically bad in some moments. Justin Fields was occasionally used as a situational runner on option plays instead of sneaks but had issues with consistently taking snaps under center.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what I hate, hate about the NFL,\u201d Fittipaldo said. \u201cYou got guys coming into the league who can\u2019t take snaps from center.\u201d<\/p>\n Most college offenses ask quarterbacks to take little or no snaps under center. It\u2019s a reasonable critique, though not nearly the issue it was 15 years ago considering NFL offenses are in shotgun more often than under center. Even under the run-heavy Arthur Smith, the Steelers were in shotgun 58.2 percent of the time last year.<\/p>\n If Fittipaldo thinks it\u2019s hard to reliably trust a young quarterback working under center, imagine how much tougher it\u2019ll be for a tight end or wide receiver. Using someone like Washington also eliminates a potential big-body pusher from behind.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not to say Pittsburgh can\u2019t get creative and evaluate all options. But the idea of \u201cput a big guy under center\u201d has the same logical pitfalls as \u201cplay the fat guy at goalie.\u201d Mass doesn\u2019t always equal success. Even if the Tush Push is implemented in moments, the Steelers will have more work to do in order to solve their short-yardage problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long live the Tush Push. At least for another season. 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