PALM BEACH, Florida — The NFL is pushing the "tush push."
The league decided to delay making a decision on the controversial play, according to multiple reports.
The proposal to ban the play was initiated this offseason by the Green Bay Packers, who coincidentally lost twice to the Super Bowl champion Eagles during the 2024 NFL season.
The NFL needed 24 of 32 owners to support or deny.
A vote on the play could come at the league's meetings in May.
The Eagles effectively found a play to game the NFL system. The Eagles use it when they’re typically within 2 yards of a first down on any spot on the field, and it’s become notorious when they are near the goal line for easy touchdown runs.
The play goes like this. Quarterback Jalen Hurts, known for being able to squat 600 pounds, lines up behind his center and the rest of Philly’s offensive line. When Hurts gets the snap, he waits for his linemen to make the first push while he pushes into them with a head-first dive. Often times, the Eagles have a player like running back Saquon Barkley and others push behind Hurts to effectively win short-yardage situations.
The Eagles converted "tush push" plays for first downs or touchdowns in 39 of 48 times (81.3%) they ran last season. Philadelphia and the Buffalo Bills are the only teams that used it for more than five plays in 2024.
The Eagles have used the play under coach Nick Sirianni since 2022, and played in two of the last three Super Bowls — beating the Kansas City Chiefs in the most recent. Hurts scored on the play during the first touchdown in the 40-22 rout on Feb. 9 in New Orleans.
Sirianni, a former offensive coordinator with the Indianapolis Colts, started employing the play with backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett coming on the field for oft-injured former starter Andrew Luck in 2018, when Brissett was a starter in 2019, and Phillip Rivers’ lone season with the club in 2020.
The Eagles didn’t run the play much during his first season as a NFL head coach in 2021, but he employed tight end Dallas Goedert in motion as a pusher in the backfield. But the play began to gain attention after the Eagles used a tush push on 4th and 1 to end a game against the Detroit Lions during the 2022 season.
“That was a pretty important quarterback sneak that happened, let's make sure we get them in,” Sirianni said about practicing the play more at the time.
“They kind of evolved from there with different formations, different pushers. Then we turned it into two pushers. And just a cool evolution. And then what happened was all the compliments that come off of it, and all the cool things that you can do off it.”
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was in favor of keeping the play.
“You hate to be against it because when people are innovative, you want to respect that. And so there’s certainly been some teams that have been more innovative than the rest of us in that regard. And you hate to penalize them for that,” Tomlin said Monday.
However, the Packers cited player safety as a main reason for opposition. The play puts NFL players in an unsafe ...
