The National Football League’s executive vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent, told reporters that an “unnamed team” has proposed the ban of the famous “Tush Push” quarterback sneak play.
That “unnamed team” was shortly thereafter identified: The Green Bay Packers.
While the play has become a topic of discussion the past few years, given the success the Philadelphia Eagles have had running it, the NFL made no plans to ban the Tush Push last offseason, and neither the Competition Committee nor any teams made a proposal to eliminate it at that time.
During the NFC Championship Game, the Washington Commanders went to extreme length to try and stop it, jumping offsides by the goal line several times before the referee told them they would award the Eagles at touchdown if they continued to do so.
It’s hard to imagine this latest attempt to ban the Tush Push will gain much traction. For one, there has never been any demonstrable data to suggest it leads to more injuries or is a particular risk to player safety.
But it also isn’t universally effective. While the Eagles executive it with almost automatic success, other teams have been less successful in utilizing the strategy. Thus, to eliminate it would be to essentially punish the Eagles for simply being better at it than any other team.
“It’s always a topic for conversation: Should this play be banned? But the success we have is not replicated always throughout the entire league,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni told reporters in early February, ahead of the Super Bowl. “We saw it last week with the game we’re studying, Kansas City against Buffalo, [the Chiefs] stopped them in a critical situation. I guess I’m lobbying to never change that rule because we’re successful at it, but we’re successful at it because of the guys we have up front.”
