PALM BEACH, Florida — The NFL has pushed the ‘tush push’ for another day.
The NFL decided Tuesday to delay a potential ban on the controversial play, made famous by the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, during its annual league meetings.
The NFL needs 24 of 32 team owners to support or deny a rule change, but it’s unclear how teams sided on the issue. It will be revisited again during another set of league meetings in May.
Among the layers to the tush push: The play is considered traditional in nature to the sport. However, the idea teammates can push one another on offense but are unable to push or raise another defensive player to block a kick is one-sided.
‘Health and safety’ were also touted as a concern to ban the play, but the NFL simply does not have enough data to definitively say which injuries could occur.
Zero injuries were reported from such plays last season, but it barely accounted for 1/5 of a percent of all the offensive plays in the NFL in 2024. ESPN reported just 101 of the 35,414 offensive plays in 2024 were tush-push plays, or 0.285%.
“We have very little data from it, but it’s beyond data. There’s also the mechanism of injury that we study, that type of thing that leads us to show the risk involved with a particular play or particular tackle,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said.
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie vehemently endorsed the play his club specializes better than any other NFL team, following the announcement it would be revisited.
Lurie believes the ‘tush push’ is safer than the traditional quarterback sneak because the ball carrier is surrounded by more teammates instead of just lunging into a crowd of defenders by himself. Unless the data supports a health and safety issue, the play should stand.
“I want to know what data there is. I don’t think there is any. If you want to say that it could be [dangerous], it’s hard to make rules on could-bes and should-bes,” Lurie told Eagles reporters Tuesday afternoon.
‘One of the reasons we like using the Tush Push is we think it’s a safer play than the quarterback sneak. The quarterback sneak, if you talk to quarterbacks about it, there’s more spearing going on. They’re less protected by players around them. And one of the reasons we got motivated to develop an expertise in this play is it was more protective to the quarterback.
‘So, it’s ironic that people would bring up health and safety. We’re at the top of the game in terms of wanting health and safety on every play. We voted for hip-drop tackle and a defenseless receiver.
“We will always, always support what is safer for the players. It’s a no-brainer. If this is proven to be less safe for the players, we will be against the Tush Push.
“But until that’s the case, to me, there would be no reason to ban this play.”
Rich McKay, CEO of the Atlanta Falcons CEO and co-chairman of the NFL’s competition committee, said the NFL teams discussed the play for about 30-40 minutes on Tuesday.
McKay said the tush-push play is essentially fruit from a previous rule change: In 2004, the NFL allowed players to push and pull because it became difficult to judge downfield pass plays.
The proposal to ban the play was initiated this offseason by the Green Bay Packers, who coincidentally lost twice to the Eagles last season. Green Bay asked to re-introduce 2004 language when the proposal is tabled again in May, McKay said.
“I would definitely say there are some people that have health and safety concerns, but there’s just as many people that have football concerns,” McKay added. “It was much more about the play, the aesthetics of the play. Is it what football has been traditionally or is it more of a rugby play?”
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.
“We’ve been really successful at it,” Sirianni said Tuesday.
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 an 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.”
However, the Packers cited player safety as a main reason for opposition. Players are crouched over and dive head-first into the line. The play puts NFL players in an unsafe position, critics of the play say.
McKay did not want to divulge into what possible injuries could occur or what the league could prevent, citing the lack of data.
“I think from a health and safety standpoint, a lot of people are concerned with what may be, not opposed to what has been,” McKay said.
Added Sirianni: “I think we were healthy on the play. I believe that whole entire NFL was healthy on the play … You have to trust the doctors and stuff like that in those scenarios, but you always want to do what’s best for the players first and foremost.”
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was in favor of keeping the tush-push play, which could be gone before next season if the league decides to ban it in May.
“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.
This story has been updated with new information.
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