Kellen Moore happy tush push remains legal but undecided whether Saints will use it

The Tush Push was saved Wednesday, falling two votes short of the 24 required for a ban. The Saints, who have former Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore as their head coach, were among the 10 teams that voted against the proposal to eliminate the play.

“It’s a play that obviously has drawn a lot of discussions,” Moore said Thursday, via John DeShazier of the team website. “As you go through the process, I know there was an injury component that was emphasized and a speed of play both, [but I] didn’t feel like there was much data or proof to say that was justifiable as we went through that process and so, I feel good.

“I’m really happy that it didn’t go through that process, especially the way they counter moved it, with the way the potential latest proposal was to eliminate all pushing from an offensive player perspective, which created another whole can of worms that I don’t think everyone quite realized — that that occurs in a lot more football plays than just that, and so we were drastically changing a number of plays in this. . . . I feel like it’s a play that ultimately one team or a couple of teams that invested a ton of time into, put a lot of work into it, and they’ve been able capitalize on it. But it’s just like any other play: It’s available to everyone, and we’ll see.”

The Eagles converted 39 of 48 of their attempts on the quarterback push play last season with Moore calling the shots, and they totaled 27 touchdowns and 92 first downs with the play the past three seasons.

Moore has not decided whether the Saints will use the play this season.

“I’ve had great experience with it,” Moore said. “It’s an investment. It’s a play that Philadelphia has done a great job of investing a lot of time into, spending a lot of time embracing that play, and there’s a skill component to it as well that we’ve got to evaluate.”

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