Greg McElroy gives harsh stance on tush push during Auburn vs. Oklahoma broadcast

Greg McElroy usually stays in the college football world but got a chance to give out an NFL take on Saturday afternoon. The tush push is a popular topic around the league right now, as people question if the play should be banned. Noise surrounding the play only grew after the Philadelphia Eagles took down the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2.

Almost everyone has an opinion. For McElroy, he wants the NFL to get rid of the tush push. He cited his lack of desire to see it executed, while admitting there might be a little bias in there due to his childhood fandom.

“Get out. I have no time for the tush push,” McElroy said during the Auburn–Oklahoma game. “I don’t want to watch rugby. I like to see a little more finesse, I like to see a little more action. I want it out, get it gone. Plus, you can’t stop it and I grew up a Cowboys fan. So, I don’t want to see it.”

The tush push has been a staple for the Eagles for a while now. Seemingly no other team can run the play at the same success rate as them. A lot of factors go into the call, from the offensive line to Jalen Hurts and everyone pushing him forward.

Where the big guys are lined up became another point of contention. Social media saw multiple screenshots of Eagles players aligned offside, only to go uncalled by officials. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported on the situation, saying the play will be called a little tighter.

“Okay, so league officiating sent a memo to all 32 teams this week letting them know that the Eagles’ tush push play featured some false starts from the guards, and that that play needs to be officiated tightly moving forward,” Fowler said on SportsCenter. “So I checked in with two different teams, executives and teams who watched the film and read that memo, they said that what’s clear is this play could be truly hard to officiate moving forward, and that this is a big test for the coming weeks for the league. 

“And then one exec pointed out, if you can’t officiate this fairly moving forward, it probably hurts the chances of the tush push getting approved for another year because the league voted on it back in May. It was nearly banned. It was a 22 to 10 vote. They didn’t get the majority. So the play moves on, lives for another year. I don’t know, it’s gonna be a crucial couple weeks for the tush push for momentum moving forward.”

Either way, McElroy wants the tush push gone. Comparing it more to rugby, he does not believe in it from a pure football standpoint. If nothing else, it’s an opinion on the play from somebody who does not cover the NFL on a day-to-day basis.