Peyton Manning might need a refresher on the rules of his son’s youth football league.
During ‘Monday Night Football,’ the ManningCast aired a clip of Manning’s son, Marshall, scoring on a version of the ‘Tush Push’ during a Colorado youth football game. Fittingly, the clip was shown moments after the Philadelphia Eagles executed their patented – and controversial – ‘Tush Push,’ in an eventual 20-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
‘We were told after that play, the refs were like, ‘Hey, you can’t do that,” said Manning, who coaches his son’s team, the Cherry Creek Bruins, in suburban Denver. ‘I’m like, ‘The Eagles do that in the NFL.’ He’s like, ‘This is not the NFL.’
‘That was the last time we did it. They banned it in our league.’
Not so, according to Heath Dorris, the vice president of the Arapahoe Youth League, who said he’s already gone over the rule with Manning.
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‘We had that conversation over the course of the summer,’ Dorris told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday. ‘ … It is allowed as long as they’re technically pushing him from the back, not trying to lift him into it where he could possibly leave the ground.
‘Basically, the rule that we play by in our rule book is we just don’t allow other players to help lift a player. It’s more kind of a safety type thing.’
Peyton Manning questions about ‘Tush Push’
Manning, the retired Hall of Fame quarterback, sought to clarify the league’s rules on the tush push this summer, Dorris said.
‘Peyton is very detailed and has a lot of questions,’ Dorris said with a chuckle. ‘Let’s leave it at that. But it’s good. It’s a good thing, not a bad thing.’
Dorris said the referee may have misspoke during the reported on-field exchange with Manning.
‘Watching that play last night, it wasn’t a tush push,’ Dorris said. “It was a more of a, let’s just push the pile. …
‘If they’re pushing the ball from behind, we’re OK with that, because a kid’s not leaving the ground. What we don’t want is a kid getting lifted up and thrown over and we don’t want to promote that. That’s basically the integrity of the rule.’
What kind of coach is Peyton Manning?
Manning is in his third year as head coach of the Cherry Creek Bruins, and this year the team won the Super Bowl for the seventh-grade division, according to Dorris. Of course, part of that success stems from the ringer at quarterback – Manning’s son, Marshall.
‘The kid’s got an arm,’ Dorris said. ‘He can read a field and he’s doing pretty good.’
Peyton Manning gets high marks too.
‘You run into certain pro athletes and they can be a little over the top sometime,’ Dorris said. ‘But he’s pretty even-keeled down-to-earth guy.
‘It’s not that he doesn’t ask for clarifications from the refs, but I’ve never seen him not go out there with the best integrity and just be the best role model. I mean, he gets excited when they score, he gets excited when they’re in tough games, but I’ve never seen him not be the ultimate role model. Ever.’