Twice in Sunday’s game against the Rams, the Packers called for Jordan Love to run quarterback sneaks on fourth-and-1. Both times, Packers guard Jon Runyan was called for offside.
Runyan says the NFL has just decided to call offside differently than before in an attempt to crack down on the “tush push” version of the quarterback sneak, which the Eagles run so effectively and there’s been some talk of banning.
“I guess it was a point of emphasis with the officials,” Runyan said, via SI.com. “I wish I would’ve been told that for the first one. It’s something that’s got to be communicated better. That’s the NFL trying to phase that play out slowly.”
Runyan says he has always lined up as close as he can to the line of scrimmage in short-yardage plays and it’s never been a problem until Sunday. But he says after Sunday’s game he was told that the officials were specifically instructed last week to look for offensive linemen in the neutral zone on the “tush push.”
“Apparently, they send out a weekly video talking about that,” Runyan said. “Apparently, that was in the weekly video but I had no idea. I didn’t even know they sent out a weekly video on points of emphasis. That was on it [last] week and you can tell they were definitely looking for it because they called it twice on us.”
The Eagles were also flagged for offensive offside on one of their “tush push” plays this season when the officials incorrectly threw a flag on guard Landon Dickerson for having his hand in the neutral zone when they were actually looking at center Jason Kelce’s hand. Offensive linemen around the league have to be on notice that it’s a rule the officials are calling strictly.
