After months of debate, NFL owners voted on Wednesday to decide the fate of the Philadelphia Eagles' infamous tush push play. Nine other teams stood with the Eagles and voted against the ban, keeping the vote from getting the required 24 votes. The LA Chargers were not one of those teams.
ESPN's Adam Schefter revealed the 10 teams that voted against the tush push ban and the Chargers noticeably were not on the list. Los Angeles joined 21 other teams in trying to get the Eagles' infamous play banned from game action.
Now, the Chargers have to see the tush push live and in living color as the team hosts the Eagles in Week 14.
Chargers were one of 22 NFL teams who voted to ban the tush push
The Chargers' stance on the tush push ban is surprising given what has been said about the play by their own head coach. Jim Harbaugh is all about football in the trenches and in theory, the tush push would be right up his alley.
Back in February, Harbaugh said that teams need to either "stop it, or get good at running it yourself." One would guess that Harbaugh supported the tush push staying in the game, but alas, the Chargers as an organization did not feel the same way.
Interestingly enough, the Baltimore Ravens stood in solidarity with the Eagles and voted against the ban. One would think the Chargers would see eye-to-eye with Baltimore given the strong connections between the two organizations.
Perhaps Dean Spanos overrode any opinions Harbaugh and Hortiz had about the tush push. We'll likely never know.
Now the Chargers have to go to the drawing board and figure out how to stop the tush push when it inevitably comes to SoFi Stadium in December. Additionally, the Chargers really should be trying to figure out a way to run the play themselves.
On paper, the tush push would be an extremely effective play for the Chargers. Justin Herbert is one of the biggest quarterbacks in the league and the Chargers just signed someone, Mekhi Becton, who is very familiar running the play. If anything, having the tush push in the game is an advantage to the Chargers.
Alas, the team did not feel the same way but it does not matter. The Green Bay Packers (the team that introduced this vote) did not get enough support throughout the league to ban the most effective play in football. Now, like the three-point shot in basketball, other NFL teams need to master it.