The “Tush Push” play survives and is here to stay. After all the noise and long-standing debates, the 32 NFL owners have ruled the league can keep on pushing.
The league officially failed to ban the “Tush Push” on Wednesday, after it failed to gain enough traction and support to pass a vote by the owners. League rules state that at least 75% or 24 of the 32 teams had to be in favor of the move.
The final tally ended two teams short, with 22 teams voting in favor of a ban and 10 teams electing to allow the play to live on in infamy, with the New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions and New England Patriots among the teams that sided with the world champion Philadelphia Eagles, according to ESPN’s senior NFL insider Adam Schefter.
It was a rule change that appeared to be a imminent heading into Wednesday’s session, which was attended by Jason Kelce, who was a center for the team and a six-time Pro Bowler, who played an integral role in the process.
The Eagles celebrated the decision on social media, with a simple “Push On” posted.
Any attempt to dismiss or limit the play has been controversial in the NFL community. The Green Bay Packers were the first team to propose the idea at the NFL league meetings in April, when it was revealed they did not have enough support at the time and would hold off the discussion until May.
The Packers submitted a revised proposal to ban the play earlier this week. In the updated proposal’s language, no offensive player may “push or pull a runner in any direction at any time or lift him to his feet.” The Packers also eliminated “immediately at the snap” in the updated language.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe “Tush Push” was a play made famous by the Eagles, who perfected the process following head coach Nick Sirianni’s arrival in 2021. However, the play began back in 2018, when Anthony Barr of the Minnesota Vikings was seen in a mic’d up moment talking through the strategy.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts, Jason Kelce and the Eagles used the strategy to make most short-yardage situations nearly automatic.
Depending on the perspective, the play resembles a rugby-style scrum and is not a football play or a quarterback sneak that rarely fails.
Many teams have tried to copy the Eagles and their ability to convert at a high level, but that has not been the case for most.
Despite that reality, the Packers marched forward for a ban. The team’s president, Mark Murphy, spoke back in April about his hopes surrounding the potential ban even with the delay of talks.
“I think it ended up in a good place,” Murphy said in an interview with the Packers’ YouTube channel. “We ended up tabling it, but we had really good discussions. Talked a little bit about our safety concerns regarding the play, just kind of the style of the play. But good interaction with the league. So, it’ll be tabled. And then what we’re going to do is, it’ll be voted on in the May meeting.”
Most who have objected, including Murphy, to the “Tush Push” has pointed to a previous rule as evidence that said you cannot push or pull players. According to NFL Competition Committee chairman Rich McKay, it was too hard for officials to officiate, which is why the rule was disposed of in 2005.
Considering how narrow the final vote was and how close the league got to banning the “Tush Push” this offseason, it seems likely that there will be more challenges to come in the future.
For now, the Eagles’ infamous play lives to fight another day.
