Proposed NFL fixes: start by killing the Tush Push and the dynamic kickoff

Proposed NFL fixes: start by killing the Tush Push and the dynamic kickoffStory bySeattle Seahawks tight end AJ Barner (88) gets the first down on a tush push during the third quarter of the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Lumen Field, on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, in Seattle. (Brian Hayes/[email protected])Jim Moore1 / 2

Proposed NFL fixes: start by killing the Tush Push and the dynamic kickoff

Seattle Seahawks tight end AJ Barner (88) gets the first down on a tush push during the third quarter of the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Lumen Field, on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, in Seattle. (Brian Hayes/[email protected])1 / 2

Proposed NFL fixes: start by killing the Tush Push and the dynamic kickoff

Seattle Seahawks tight end AJ Barner (88) gets the first down on a tush push during the third quarter of the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Lumen Field, on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, in Seattle. (Brian Hayes/[email protected])2 / 2

Proposed NFL fixes: start by killing the Tush Push and the dynamic kickoff

Jim MooreJim MooreTue, December 2, 2025 at 7:05 PM UTC·7 min read

We all love the NFL, so much that long ago it became the most popular sport in the country.

The games are generally exciting and unpredictable. On Sunday night a team that had lost six in a row (Washington) was a two-point conversion away from beating a team that had won eight in a row (Denver) in overtime.

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Earlier that day, the supposedly best team in the league was favored by 10 points over Carolina, but the Rams lost to the Panthers.

Denver, New England and Chicago haven’t been heard from in a while, but look at them now, at the top of their respective conferences. And the high-flying Lions and Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes might not make the playoffs.

But something happened the day after Thanksgiving that I don’t like about the NFL, and it got me to thinking about other things that bug me. These things might bother you too, or you might think I just need to relax and enjoy the game as it is.

Here they are in no particular order because I dislike them all equally.

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Let’s start with the Eagles-Bears game last Friday. The Eagles trailed 24-9 but scored a touchdown with 3:10 remaining to cut the Bears’ lead to 24-15. A pretty routine PAT would have put them within one score at 24-16, but the Eagles elected to try a two-point conversion and failed, leaving them nine points, or two scores, behind.

It seemed idiotic to go for two given the consequences if you didn’t convert, and yet, the analytic nerds spoke up on social media and supported the Eagles’ decision. They basically said it’s important to have “more information” instead of “less information,” whatever that means.

These analytic nerds apparently did not go to first grade, where the rest of us learned basic arithmetic. They also apparently weren’t watching the Eagles struggle on offense in the first 57 minutes of the game, seemingly going three-and-out on every possession.

And they apparently weren’t able to see the game clock, but it told those of us who could that it was highly unlikely that the Eagles would get two more possessions to have a chance to win if they trailed by nine points.

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I’m going out of my way to talk down to them because that’s the way they came across with their steadfast belief that the Eagles did the right thing to go for two when they did, making it sound like the rest of us could only wish we were as smart as they are.

So yeah, the NFL would be better off to knock these nerds off their high horses or at least give them the ability to see the other side of this numbers game too.

Speaking of the Eagles, they’re the ones who came up with the Tush Push, a play in which Jalen Hurts has turned a basic quarterback sneak into a joke featuring several of his teammates pushing him from behind. How that’s a legal football play is beyond me, but now the Seahawks have joined in and are doing it too.

I loved it when the Bears foiled the Tush Push last Friday, causing Hurts to fumble. I’ll love it even more when the NFL eliminates it altogether.

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The NFL calls them dynamic kickoffs, I call them ridiculous. I will never get used to seeing these kickoffs and watching so many players look like statues before they’re able to move.

The dynamic kickoffs are supposedly safer and more conducive to long returns, and I don’t even care if they’ve accomplished those goals, they’re Mickey Mouse and need to go away.

There was a big fourth-down play last Sunday in Indianapolis. The Texans were trying to pick up half a yard, but it was too close to call - maybe they got the first down, maybe they didn’t.

In what used to be a suspenseful moment involving the chain gang coming out to measure, now we get a digital animated look at the outcome, and it showed us that the Texans came up a little short.

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Bring back the chain gang, dammit, and get rid of the computerized cartoons!

Protecting the quarterback has gone too far. Imagine being a 320-pound defensive tackle. You’ve somehow beaten a double-team and you’re bearing down on the quarterback. You hit him squarely in the chest, in what used to be called a form tackle, and take him to the ground as your momentum causes you to fall on top of him.

A yellow flag hits the ground too because that is now considered roughing the passer.

Stop it already, OK?

The dumbest rule is the one that allows the defense to get possession at the 20-yard line after the offense fumbles in the end zone and the ball goes out of bounds.

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We’ve all seen this happen many times - a receiver or running back is nearing the goal line but gets hit and loses the ball, which bounces into the end zone and out of bounds right by the pylon.

Here’s what I don’t understand - if the offense fumbles anywhere else in the field of play and the ball goes out of bounds, the offense retains possession.

But in the end zone out of bounds scenario, the defense hasn’t recovered the fumble and not only gets possession but gets it at the 20? Make it make sense. You can’t because it doesn’t.

If you want to give the defense the ball, fine, but put the ball at the 1-yard line, not the 20.

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Get rid of the kicking balls. If you haven’t heard about these, the NFL for the first time has allowed kickers to work in practice with their own special balls, which are then used in the games. Apparently this is a big deal because the kickers can brush the balls and do other things to them that obviously are making them easier to kick from long range.

In 1970 Tom Dempsey of the Saints hit a 63-yard field goal. That record stood for 43 years until Matt Prater of the Broncos broke it with a 64-yarder.

Interesting side note - Dempsey kicked his field goal from the Saints’ 37-yard line because back then, the goal posts were on the goal line. The NFL didn’t move them to the back of the end zone until 1974.

This year with the help of these kicking balls - and I don’t honestly know why they’re making such a big difference, but they are - there have been seven 60-plus yard field goals.

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If you’re going to keep letting kickers have their own kicking balls, then put an asterisk on the longest ones in the record book and recognize Prater as the actual all-time leader.

Stop letting a division winner host a first-round playoff game if their record is worse than the wild-card team’s.

This year it’s likely to happen in the AFC and NFC. If the playoffs started today, the 6-6 Ravens would host the 8-4 Chargers, and the 7-5 Buccaneers would host the 9-3 Seahawks.

The NFL values division winners too much because sometimes the divisions just flat-out stink, which is the case this year in the AFC North and NFC South.

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Let those division winners be in the playoffs, but make them play on the road.

And finally, I’m with those who think the Super Bowl should be moved from Sunday to Saturday. Just because it’s always been played on Sunday doesn’t mean that has to continue.

The NFL never used to play games on Thursdays or Mondays for that matter. They’ve played games on Saturdays before and will do it again on Dec. 20th this year.

You’re already taking a full two weeks between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, why not shorten it a day and give fans a chance to nurse their hangovers on Sunday before going back to work on Monday?

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Jim Moore has covered Washington’s sports scene from every angle for multiple news outlets. He appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 a.m. on Jason Puckett’s podcast at PuckSports.com. He writes a Substack blog at jimmoorethego2guy.substack.com. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) @cougsgo.

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