12:55pm: The other five teams who voted against the Packers’ proposal were the Browns, Jaguars, Dolphins, Saints, and Titans, per Schefter.
The Saints are now coached by Kellen Moore, who helped Philadelphia execute the play as their offensive coordinator last season. However, the Shane Steichen-led Colts and the Jonathan Gannon-led Cardinals both voted to ban the tush push despite their connections with Nick Sirianni and the Eagles.
10:47am: The Packers’ effort to to ban the tush push has failed, according to The Athletic’s Diana Russini. Green Bay’s revised proposal to prohibit all instances of pushing on offense only received 22 votes, two shy of the 24 required to pass, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The Eagles led the opposition to the measure, and the Ravens, Patriots, Jets, and Lions were among the teams to join them, according to Schefter. John Harbaugh, Mike Vrabel, and Dan Campbell all came out against the ban during league meetings in Florida in March. Aaron Glenn spent the last four seasons under Campbell in Detroit, and his new quarterback in New York, Justin Fields, has converted 11 of 12 push sneaks in his career, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini. Baltimore has also found some success with their version of the play featuring tight ends Mark Andrews and Charlie Kolar.
The NFL’s committees on competition and health and safety both endorsed the proposal ahead of the owners’ meeting this morning, per Russini, as did Roger Goodell, according to Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports. That led to increasing belief that the tush push ban would be successful, per FOX Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano, though some owners remained uncertain, as noted by Mark Maske of The Washington Post.
The Eagles then launched an all-out effort to rally opposition during today’s meeting with owner Jeffrey Lurie, assistant general manager Jon Ferrari, and former center Jason Kelce speaking for almost an hour, per Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. The main thrust of Philadelphia’s argument was their belief that the tush push is actually safer than the traditional quarterback sneak, which was one of their reasons for adopting the play originally, according to Bleacher Report’s James Palmer.
“Whoever votes to ban this play is taking liability for putting risk on our quarterbacks,” said Lurie (via Russini). Following his “passionate but fair” speech, Kelce addressed safety concerns accompanied by video footage, per CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones. Other owners who spoke at the meeting were Jerry Jones (Cowboys), Jed York (49ers), and Terry Pegula (Bills), per Breer.
The meeting then moved into a privileged session in which only owners and family are allowed for a vote, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. After announcing the decision, owners returned to the privileged session for further discussion on the tush push, per Maske, though it’s unlikely another vote would yield a different result.
The NFL was reportedly behind the Packers’ attempt to ban the tush push, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, as well as the Lions’ tabled reseeding proposal. Goodell pushed back against reports of his support for Green Bay’s proposal after the vote (via Mike Jones of The Athletic), saying that he wanted a thorough debate regarding both measures.
The NFL did unanimously approve a proposal to modify the onside kick, according to Breer. Teams who are trailing may now declare an onside kick at any time and can line up even with the ball at the 35-yard line. Previously, only the kicker could line up with the ball with the other 10 players at the 34.
Womp, womp. Howie wins again!
The Brotherly Shove lives to see another day!
Good. Always felt like a dumb precedent to ban a play because one team was succeeding too much at it. Other teams should either be able to stop it, replicate it, or wait for when the one team that can magically do it can’t anymore.
bingo. imagine if when teams started to pass more a team put in a proposal to limit passing attempts per game.
I can maybe understand if they put a proposal that said a player ahead of the ball carrier can’t pull him into the end zone or forward, but pushing is literally part of the game.
I understand the doctor saying that the risk of injury is high because of all players aiming for a specific spot, but it’s football and player injuries is not something the owners usually care about
There’s also no real evidence to suggest the play is more dangerous than various others with no threat of being banned. As I pointed out the other day, the only player I know of to get hurt on a tush push attempt was Giants center John Michael Schmitz on an incompetent attempt.
Eventually it will be banned.
Rightly or Wrongly, I believe that is true.
It’s clear the Commish wants it banned and will not stop until twists enough arms to make it so.
Dear Packers leadership: if you build a solid defensive line, you could stop more of these plays, instead of lobbying for new rules.
In fairness, they did fire their defensive line coach this offseason, so it’s not like trying to ban the tush push was their only strategy.
In Fairness. Green bay was better than most at stopping it and could run it themselves well.
Yet they were the ones whining about it and leading the way to get it banned. Pretend you’re not a meatball homer and make it make sense.
Mark Murphy is due to leave his position this summer as CEO. He’s been a league man for almost two decades. Goodell asked him to sponsor this. The NFL office wants it. He concurred. If you’d watched Brian or Matt talk at all over the past 5 months, you’d see they don’t care.
‘Meatball homer. Meet Mr. Ill-Informed’ 🤦🏼♂️
This is great! Rather see teams forced to figure out a way to stop it instead of whine and get it banned.
And hey, Tampa just drafted the biggest defensive lineman in NFL history. They deserve a chance to try him and Vea out against the tush push. We ALL deserve a chance to see that.
Yep week 4 and I think it will be entertaining. I don’t find the play boring it is battle in trenches and has been stopped.
Tampa is the team that stopped it. During their playoff game a couple of years ago, they stopped it twice. They’re actually good at stopping it. Maybe the Packers should pick up their tape and study it.
Football is about adjusting. Changing personnel etc. teams saw how effective kneeling was during the anthem and tried to protest their way out of this. 😂
I hope we run the Brotherly Shove down the Charmin-soft cheesehead’s throat’s on MNF this year. Respect to the teams who joined us in keeping this joke of a vote from passing.
You’re the joke.
No, the joke is that the sore loser Packers have lost, and the season hasn’t started yet.
you sound like Tan Mom
Week 4 if Desmond Watson makes Bucs roster. We will see Vea and him lined up to stop it. That will be fun.
It’s unfortunate that Belichick didn’t come up with this during his time with the Patriots. That would assuredly have pushed the vote to 24 to pass.
Imagine having Barkley in your backfield with tree trunk for legs and having no faith in your offensive line to run the ball less then a yard, much less running a QB sneak.
It only takes one player suffering a career ending neck injury or paralysis to change league sentiment.
Same as a typical qb sneak. I think the league got this one right. If RB were affective at conversions on these plays. A rush push would not be up for ban. It’s simply a better option.
You do realize that football is a contact sport, right? If you’re afraid of injury, don’t play the game. There is literally ZERO evidence that this play is more dangerous than any other, but please continue to make excuses for being a sore loser.
“No faith in your offensive line”
You mean the offensive line with multiple Pro Bowlers and a 2K yard back?
The more one looks at your comment the stupider it gets.
Ok now install a rule making it legal for defenders to push one another, so linebackers can push the d line forward
I don’t care if the play is banned or not but there is typically an offset rule whenever something becomes an obvious advantage to one side or another.
The Packers would have had better luck if they had proposed a rule banning bicycle riding at the draft day event 🙂
Another stupid comment from you.
He is a bears fan. What Else do you expect?
Not as stupid as the Packers.
Dear PFT Mods:
If you’re going to have a comment section, please include a “block” this commenter option.
This 4woodchipper guy has the brain of a paramecium. Every time I read his comments, I lose 5 IQ points.
This will be banned eventually. It’s just a dumb, non-competitive play. Pretty soon O & D will line up in a straight line and just push. A reverse tug-of-war. So enthralling!! I can’t wait to watch the next one.
I agree it will be eventually.
I love how the losers who hate this play state their opinion as fact. It’s a pretty exciting play when your team is using it to win.
Please explain to all of us how seeing a bunch of dudes lining up behind the QB, grabbing his ass and pushing him across the goal line is exciting??? If I wanted to watch NFL dudes playing rugby, I’d just watch rugby.
They tried. And failed.
The Packers have now lost to the Eagles 3 times since the beginning of last season and they’re not even in the same division.
If other QB’s could squat 500+lbs 30 some times, they would like the tush push to be legal. Hurts is a maniac in the gym, always has been.
Dog piles. Standing push piles. Front line battle. This is football. Your line vs their line. Banning an integral part of the sport because a team is good at it is crazy. Evolve, make efforts to either build a team that can beat it. Or don’t allow offenses to get to that level. It’s not exactly dominating to the extent of instant victory. Although a majority rule would change that. Banning pushing and fighting for yards would have made way for arena ball style pass only game. And we all know. The game is won in the trenches. Play ball!
The problem is that the commissioner of the NFL wants football to be a cross between flag football and the Arena League with bigger names and celebrities in the stands.
Wildcat was a phase. Teams figured it out. This one’s tough but it’s not impossible to stop. They get paid more than NASA to figure out problems, teams will be fine.
Such a boring play. Not sure it’s that dangerous, but it’s football so someone will get hurt eventually and it will get banned. Yall need to chill with the packers hate though. This is clearly a goodell initiative that the packers were asked to sponsor as a favor for the draft and an outgoing president.
Very exciting play when you’re winning. If you think it’s boring perhaps you should go watch soccer.
its one thing to defend the play, but to continually try and tell us how exciting the play is, and if we dont think it is, we should watch soccer? cmon man, that’s just crazy talk.
I don’t even care if it’s banned or not but yes a 1 yard play with nearly 100% success rate is boring and anticlimactic.
Good. Such a weak move to try to ban something a team does well when there are no injury concerns.
So so so stupid you should not be able to aid or assist a runner…. You can’t do it on defense why do we on the other side!!!
Assisting the runner isn’t even really the key to this play working, but if they want to change the rules for the defense then fine. However, that’s not what’s being proposed here.
So what exactly is the key to the play working if it’s not due to assisting the runner by pushing his tush??? Minus the pushing of the tush, the play would just be a QB sneak.
Its all about assisting the runner via pushing the “tush” of the qb….his momentum without help via the push is not achieving the necessary yardage….
packers brain trust are hard at work on an “unstoppable” play of their own
Woohoo! I’m a Raiders fan since 1980 (hello Jaws era Eagles fans) so this isn’t a homer post – but it’s a play the Eagles run really well with a super strong QB and middle o-line efficient advantage. So many teams (including Bills’ Josh Allen) try it and it just doesn’t work as well as Eagles Offensive Unit of Guard Center Guard & Hurts. It has been stopped so folks saying it’s automatic can chill.
Now give me MORE HURTS DYNASTY FF KONAMI CODE TOUCHDOWNS FOREVER WOOHOO!!
What I don’t get is that this is an inches-to-go play, and usually the old style of qb sneak worked out well, so, why is this creating such a stir? It’s the same thing except the third tight end and running back push the pile. The funny thing is, you probably don’t even need that bc qb sneaks almost always worked before.
That being said, as an Eagles fan I am ok with banning it bc I think someone will end up paralyzed eventually due to the bowing of the head and being forced to use the crown of the helmet as a battering ram with the potential of compressing the spine, pancaking down on itself, which is one way to get paralyzed in the game. I don’t wanna wait for evidence it can be dangerous in the form of a guy never getting up again. I played with a guy in hs who broke his neck and luckily survived it with surgeries but a kid coming to school with a halo literally screwed into his skull is something you can’t unsee.
So yes, hypocrite I am, I stand and cheer and get loud when they line up, but inside I cringe and just want it over and first down again.
No one wants to see another Mike Utley injury due to a play like this. I get that injuries happen in football. It’s a violent contact sport, but this play for all the reasons you stated, is just inviting a career ending and life changing injury due to paralysis.
Sit, whiny losers
Back to the potty little boy!
I feel the same about the tush push as I do about the shift in baseball. Sure, it’s legal and can be a good strategy, but I still find it lame.
It is lame as the QB is not achieving positive yardage without an “assist” from the two players behind him……
Butt Shove is Football at its absolute purest. Can’t stop it? Figure out how to. Even Philadelphia doesn’t succeed every time.