The NFL tries to eliminate QB sneaks with offside penalties

Twice in Sunday’s game against the Rams, the Packers called on Jordan Love to play quarterback sneaks on fourth-and-1. Both times, Packers guard Jon Runyan was offside.

Runyan says the NFL just decided to calculate offsides differently than before to combat the “tush push” version of the quarterback sneak that the Eagles do so effectively and have already talked about banning.

“I think that was a point that officials emphasized,” Runyan said, via SI.com. “I wish they had told me that the first time. This needs to be communicated better. That is The NFL is trying to phase this out.”

Runyan said he always lined up as close to the line of scrimmage as possible on short-yardage plays, and that was never a problem until Sunday. But he says he was told after Sunday’s game that officials were specifically instructed last week to look for offensive linemen in the neutral zone during the “tush push.”

“Apparently they send out a video every week talking about it,” Runyan said. “Apparently it was in the weekly video, but I had no idea.” I didn’t even know they sent out a weekly video on key topics. That’s what it said [last] week and you can tell they were definitely looking for it because they called us twice.”

The Eagles were also flagged for offensive offsides on one of their “tush push” plays this season when officials mistakenly threw a flag at guard Landon Dickerson for having his hand in the neutral zone when it was actually on the hand of Center Jason Kelce looked. Offensive linemen across the league must understand that this is a rule that is strictly established by the officials.