The Eagles’ reliance on the tush push, a play they introduced in 2022, helped power them to a Super Bowl championship in 2024. Last February, a couple of weeks after the Eagles crushed the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX, the Packers proposed a tush push ban.
Led by since-retired team president/CEO Mark Murphy, Green Bay lobbied to “prohibit an offensive player from pushing a teammate who was lined up directly behind the snapper and receives the snap, immediately at the snap.”
Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL’s committees on competition and health and safety supported the Packers’ proposal. Nevertheless, after a heated debate across the league, it did not receive enough votes to pass last May. Twenty-one of the league’s other 32 teams were in agreement with the Packers. They fell two votes shy of the required 24.
The tush push was a legal play again in 2025, but as of September, momentum toward eliminating it was reportedly growing. However, it appears it will remain part of the game next season. Troy Vincent, the league’s executive vice president of football operations, said Monday that a new call to ban the play did not come in this year (via veteran reporter Mark Maske).
“Haven’t seen one,” Vincent revealed. “And that deadline has passed.”
The Packers’ new president/CEO, Ed Policy, and all other teams apparently did not feel strongly enough to submit a fresh proposal. It’s not especially surprising in the wake of comments that NFL competition committee co-chairman Rich McKay made on Sunday (via Mike Reiss and Kevin Seifert of ESPN).
“There’s no team proposal that I’ve seen from it,” McKay said. “So, I wouldn’t envision it. But you never know.”
As part of their proposal last year, the Packers pointed to player safety and pace of play among their reasons for requesting a tush push ban. A season has passed since then, and the league still has not publicized any health data related to the play, Reiss and Seifert note.
While the Eagles and the rest of the league may continue running the tush push, Vincent said the NFL could consider doing something “about aiding the runner. I mean, we saw players being literally picked up and kind of walked into the end zone. Is that really what we want?”
Great! Now this can finally stop being talked about.
The “tush push” is legal and should stay legal. Changing rules for the sake of changing rules is getting tiring.
Disagree, defenses aren’t allowed to push players, and that rule should be consistent to offenses too. Not to mention it is a gruelingly boring play. The game would be better with it gone.
So teams just had their panties in a bunch because Eagles had a great oline to do it. This season they were not effective at it, the play it self wasn’t unstoppable just certain players involved.
Oh and every team can actually run it if they want to.
The problem is that Eagles O-Line was off sides half the time and the officials just looked the other way…the secret of the tush push is easy….once the center moves the ball forward prior to the snap the O-Line takes off which gives them the leverage to get under the D-Line and with 1 or 2 guys with their hands on the QB’s butt pushing forward, easy to get a yard…..sorry, this is more rugby than football…..
I don’t support banning a play. The problem is the play usually has the OL breaking the rules and it’s rarely called. Just call the play fairly and give the defense a chance to stop it
Actually, the Opposite. The Defense is almost ALWAYS lined up in the Neutral Zone. Most of the OL issues likely occur on every single play if you freeze frame a play. The QB calls “HIKE” and they call go. Some may be microseconds before the ball moves… but nobody is freeze-framing the play.
So we’re going to ignore the center moving the ball every time they line up for a tush push? And if the center moves the ball then that negates the argument that the defense lines up in the neutral zone.
Absolutely true…all you need to do is look at the tapes to see exactly that….Kelsi was a master at it and if never was called by the officials…..
Bull Spit….if the Defense was lined up in the neutral zone you can bet the officials would call it all the time…..the key was moving the ball forward prior to the snap which allowed the O-Line to fire off once the ball moved….look at the tapes….its a timing play which is why it was and is successful…..
Just have a guy on each side of the QB grab his arms and legs and heave ho him over the O and D lines.
Some team needs to propose that the Packers been banned from making any more proposals 🙂
I mean, we saw players being literally picked up and kind of walked into the end zone. Is that really what we want?”
Hell yes it is!!!!
THE TUSH PUSH PLAY, THERE IS ONE KEY ELEMENT IN THAT PLAY. IF THE RUNNER GETS ANY KIND OF PUSH FROM THERE OWN PLAYER OR PLAYERS, THE OFFICIALS SHOULD TAG THE OFFENSE WITH A 15 yard penalty. Now the way the NFL HAS IT , YOU’re not allowed to pick a a player up and carry him in the end zone, so why are the allowed to push a player from behind. SIMPLE THING TO FIX IF OFFESE PLAYERS TOUCHES QB OR RUNNER FROM BEHIND IT SHOULD DEEM FOR PLAY TO BE CALLED DEAD FORWARD PROGRESS..
“Tush Push”
I know it’s.. not.. Football.
The “ opinion “ of One Fan..