WHY STOP at the “Tush Push”? Let’s try these other ways to help the poor ball-carrier (Orange County Tribune-ai).

I like football. Although baseball was first in my now-tattered heart, football is by far the more exciting to watch.

The NFL, especially, has been a model of a forward-thinking business with its international outreach, improved vigilance on concussion injuries and the embrace of flag football for females … and eventually for everybody.

Mark my words … there will be a professional flag football league before the Angels make the World Series.

However, there is one towering flaw in the NFL rulebook, and that is the “Tush Push.” It is now – as you have seen it on TV, or in person – perfectly legal for a team to line up not just a bunch of 300-pounders on the line to block for the ball-carrier, but also to get a cadre of muscle-men to get behind him to push the guy over the goal line.

I’ve seen some situations where the line between pushing and downright carrying the guy with the ball was pretty thin.
In the light of this advance in gridiron strategy, why not up open things up a bit more, as in …

The Chicken Fighter: The ball-carrier is allowed to ride on the shoulders of another player on running plays. However, they must signal the intention to do this to give the other team an opportunity to “mount up,” as it were, one of their own.

The Airborne Back: No more than two players in the backfield will be allowed to lift – and then throw – a “designated flyer” (usually a specialist of light weight and much health insurance) over the line of scrimmage either to carry the ball or to block a field goal or extra point attempt.

Polygraph Review: When a player goes down with an alleged injury in the last two minutes of a half when the score is smaller than a margin of eight points, a lie-detector test will be administered in the medical tent. If he passes the test, there will be no run-off of time. If he fails, there will be a full minute of time run off, and he’s run off the field for the rest of the game.

Now, aren’t those forward-thinking new rules?