The Rams Reminded Everybody Last Night Why Not Running The Tush Push Is The Dumbest Decision Any NFL Team Can Make
Brooke Sutton. Getty Images.The Rams view themselves as Super Bowl contenders. When that's your goal, then every game matters. Because having a few home playoff games makes the path to the Super Bowl a little easier, and losing a week 5 game against the 49ers pretty much takes away any chance you have of home field advantage throughout the playoffs. If the Rams want to win a Super Bowl this year, they're going to have to get on a plane in January. That didn't work out too well for them last year when they had to play against the Eagles in a snowstorm.
They didn't need to lose that game last night. They're in overtime. Down by 3. 4th & 1, and Sean McVay decides to go for it. I don't hate the decision. It's the type of balls you need to win football games. All they needed to do was pick up one single yard. It's 3 feet. It's 36 inches. It's the perfect opportunity to go out there and run the play that everybody has called a "cheat code" for moving the chains in short yardage situations. If Sean McVay had spent more time during the offseason preparing the Rams to run the Tush Push, instead of crying like a little bitch about the play and it's "optics"? Then the Rams pick up this first down last night.
The Eagles have proven to the league that there's no need to ever run out of another formation when you only need to pick up one yard. But Sean McVay thinks he's the smartest man in football. He's not going to adapt and use the literal World Champions as a blueprint for success. So he's going to outthink himself, hand the ball off 5-yards behind the line of scrimmage, and thinks that's the smartest way to move the ball 36 inches down the field. Nothing like going back 5-yards to pick up 1. Fucking idiot.
The fact of the matter here is that teams that aren't running the Tush Push are admitting that they're fine with losing football games. That they don't care enough to figure it out. And that'll be the difference between getting a home playoff game, or getting their own dicks shoved up their own ass in Philly come January. Tough break.