The quest to ban the “tush push” is apparently getting somewhere.
The Green Bay Packers’ plan to ban the push sneak, the play that the Philadelphia Eagles have made popular in recent years, is starting to gain support within the competition committee, according to ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler.
It’s unknown what kind of support the ban has specifically as league meetings take place in South Florida this week. One person told Kahler that the proposal is going to be “hotly contested” during those meetings.
When the ban was discussed during a football operations meeting Sunday, things apparently got “heated.” Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman apparently got into an “animated” discussion with Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay and Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott about the proposal.
While the competition committee is discussing the proposal, NFL team owners are the ones who actually determine what is implemented. All 32 owners are expected to vote on that proposal, and all other rule changes, officially Tuesday. Whether or not the votes are there among the club owners to actually ban the tush push, Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson wrote Friday, isn't clear.
The Packers are behind the push to ban the play this offseason. The Eagles, who started doing this play in 2022, used it to score the first touchdown in their Super Bowl LIX win in February. While other teams have tried to emulate the Eagles in recent years, Philadelphia is easily the best at the tush push. Nobody else comes close.
Packers president Mark Murphy has said the play is “almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less,” and he’s not alone in his hatred of the play. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, though, calls the push to remove the play from the game insulting. The NFL said there were no injuries on the play across the league last season — which is one thing the Packers cited in their proposal to ban the play.
This is now the third offseason that the NFL is reviewing the tush push, though this is the first offseason that there has been a specific rules proposal made in an effort to remove the play from the game. And while there is support from teams other than the Packers to remove the play, ...
