The ‘Tush Push’ Lives After NFL Owners Reject Proposal To Ban It

No ifs, and or buts. The “tush push” lives to see another season.

NFL owners voted to continue the use controversial play at league meetings Wednesday despite a large majority of owners supporting the ban, which was put forward by the Green Bay Packers at annual winter meeting and modified this month.

Owners voted 22-10 to support the ban, ESPN reported, citing sources, but the proposal needed 24 votes to pass.

ESPN reported that the 10 teams to vote against the proposal were the Baltimore Ravens, the Cleveland Browns, the Detroit Lions, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Miami Dolphins, the New England Patriots, the New Orleans Saints, the New York Jets, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Tennessee Titans.

Philadelphia Eagles’ owner Jeffrey Lurie made an almost hour-long speech in support of the play — a recent Eagles’ goal-line staple — at the meetings, ESPN reported, after hearing reports that both the NFL’s competition committee and the health and safety committee had voted in favor of banning the play.

Committee votes are generally supported by ownership.

The ‘tush push’ is exactly what it sounds like

The play is rather straightforward. The quarterback lines up behind the center, takes the snap, and runs straight ahead while being propelled from behind by the rest of the offense backfield.

Quarterbacks have run before, but seldom like this. With quarterback Jalen Hurts, the Eagles have pushed the play into the mainstream for the first time.

The Super Bowl champion Eagles have run a quarterback sneak 108 times since 2022, almost double the amount of the second-place Bills (55), according to ESPN research. They have used tush push to score 27 touchdowns in the last three seasons. Buffalo (11) with quarterback Josh Allen is the only other team with more than three scores.

Buffalo was among those who voted to ban the play.

The Eagles and Packers will meet on Monday Night Football on Nov. 10 at Lambeau Field.

Eagles’ owner Lurie makes a colorful point

During his speech at the meeting, Lurie used an analogy for which he was later chastised by NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent.

Lurie, according to ESPN, told owners that just having a vote was a “win-win” for the Eagles, saying that it was “like a wet dream for a teenage boy” to have a play that was so successful that the only way to stop it was to ban it. There were women present in the room.

Lurie also said that those who voted to ban the play who put more quarterbacks at risk, according to ESPN. He also criticized NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Vincent for supporting the ban.

The league considered the a stricter version of proposal at the annual league meeting last month but tabled it.

Green Bay resubmitted its proposal after revising the wording to ban all plays that involved pushing or pulling a ball carrier. The new language stipulated that “offensive players cannot assist the runner except by individually blocking opponents for him.” The verbiage “immediately at the snap” was removed.

In other business, owners approved a proposal that allows teams to declare on onside kick at any point when they are trailing in a game. The Detroit Lions withdrew their proposal to reseed the NFL playoffs just before the meeting began.