First Call: Art Rooney's insight on 'heated' debate over tush push; new NFL postseason award

Thursday’s “First Call” has quotes from Steelers owner Art Rooney II about how things went down in a prickly meeting surrounding the idea of eliminating the tush push.

We also have a new award in NFL circles, recruiting information from Pitt and Duquesne and a look at the Pirates’ next opponent at PNC Park.

Behind the curtain

Steelers president Art Rooney II provided some insight into what was described as a “heated” and at times crass debate about banning the Philadelphia Eagles’ tush push play.

During league meetings in Minnesota, team owners voted on a number of league topics, including one proposal to potentially outlaw Philly’s fabled version of the quarterback sneak that features Jalen Hurts getting shoved forward by other players on his team.

JALEN HURTS TUSH PUSH TOUCHDOWN
pic.twitter.com/9c8TNybid1

— Barstool Philly (@BarstoolPhilly) November 10, 2024

Opponents of the play think it’s a dangerous gimmick. Supporters of the play think teams that can’t stop it are just whining.

Consider me in the second camp.

The meeting lasted more than an hour. ESPN’s Seth Wickersham posted a story claiming that foul language, crude exchanges and a tense tone existed between some owners and league executives.

Former Eagle Jason Kelce was part of the meeting. He was there to disavow the notion that he retired because he was worn out from running the tush push play. Rooney told ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler that he felt Kelce’s presence may have swayed some voters. Rooney summarized Kelce’s argument by suggesting that the tush push “is a safe play, not something we need to worry about that much.”

It must’ve worked because the proposal to eliminate the play failed to pass by two votes.

Wickersham said things got especially spicy between Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent over a graphic characterization of the tush push controversy from Lurie that Vincent seemed to find offensive.

Protection props

The NFL is creating a new postseason award. It’s called the “Protector of the Year.”

Starting after the 2025 season, the award will be presented annually to the league’s best offensive lineman. A panel of former NFL offensive linemen will be in charge of voting for the award.

“I’m going to give credit to Dion Dawkins from Buffalo,” Vincent said Wednesday via NFL.com. “He was truly instrumental (in) making sure that we recognize the big fellas. LeCharles Bentley, Jason Kelce, Shaun O’Hara, Orlando Pace, Will Shields and Andrew Whitworth will be the panel. … They’ve come up with a criteria on skills, metrics, impact, leadership, durability and strength of the opponent. We’ll be tracking that quarterly with this group.”

The DraftKings Network doesn’t have odds up yet as to who will win the award. However, writer Griffin Wong posted a column suggesting that Philadelphia offensive tackle Jordan Mailata should be the favorite.

Brewers brewin’

After a rare series win over the Cincinnati Reds this week, the Pirates are welcoming another National League Central rival for a four-game series starting Thursday at PNC Park.

The Milwaukee Brewers are in town on the heels of an 8-4 loss to Baltimore. That snapped what had been a three-game win streak for Milwaukee.

They are now 24-26, good for just fourth place in the NL Central, seven games ahead of the last-place Pirates. The Reds are a half game in front of Milwaukee at 25-26. The Chicago Cubs lead the division at 30-20, three games better than second-place St. Louis.

One thing the Pirates have in their favor is that the Brewers have been bad on the road. They are just 9-16 away from American Family Field. Only the Colorado Rockies (22), Pirates (19) and Atlanta Braves (17) have more road losses than the Brewers in the National League.

Then again, the Pirates are only 11-14 at home. Only Colorado (5-18) has fewer home wins than the Pirates.

The Pirates better be aware of Milwaukee on the bases. They have 65 steals, the most in the National League. In general, though, the Brewers aren’t a great offensive team. Their .660 team OPS is 25th in MLB, just four spots ahead of the Pirates at .615.

The club only has 40 homers, 26th in MLB. The team’s batting average of .230 is 24th. But they’ve scored 208 runs, 14th in MLB.

Recruiting roundup

Here are some recruiting nuggets from Pitt and Duquesne.

On the football side, Pitt landed Latrobe product John Wetzel. He had previously committed to Marshall as part of the 2025 class.

Excited to say I have committed and signed to the University of Pittsburgh! H2P!????????@CoachDuzzPittFB @Coach_Manalac @coachcsanders @Pitt_FB pic.twitter.com/oL85Pv8cV0

— John Wetzel (@John_Wetzel10) May 22, 2025

Wetzel is projected as either a linebacker or a safety on the college level. Wetzel is 6-feet tall and almost 200 pounds. On offense, he was a quarterback. He was a Class 5A all-state player.

Meanwhile, the Dukes have made a basketball scholarship offer for the 2026 class. According to PittsburghSportsNow.com, it’s going to Jackson Williams from Spire Academy in Atlanta.

Williams is a 6-4 guard with a defensive flair who also holds offers from Dayton, Youngstown State and Stony Brook. Last week, the Dukes also offered a 2026 scholarship to Williams’ teammate at Spire, 6-10 forward Collin Ross.