Current Events > Packers propose rule to ban 'Tush Push' play popularized by Eagles

(+) Yeah! (+)

At least one opponent of a popular style of quarterback sneak is seeking its termination.

One team has submitted a proposal to ban the play known as the "Tush Push," NFL EVP of football operations Troy Vincent told NFL Network Senior National Columnist Judy Battista on Monday. Vincent did not identify the club, but NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero later reported it was the Green Bay Packers who proposed the ban.

"I'm aware of [the proposal]," Packers general manager Brian Gutenkunst told reporters on Tuesday. "We really haven't had very many discussions about it. I'm sure we will over the next few weeks as we head into the owners' meetings. So I'm aware that we did, but really haven't had many discussions about it.

"I know we're not very successful against it, I know that, but to be honest, I haven't put much thought into it. It's been around for a while. We've used it in different fashions with a tight end."

Though its roots can be traced back to the most basic quarterback sneaks, the "Tush Push" -- also known as the "Brotherly Shove" -- originated in Philadelphia, where the Eagles popularized the play by lining up two teammates behind quarterback Jalen Hurts, who receives the snap, lunges forward and, with the push of his two fellow Eagles from behind, attempts to gain the necessary yardage for a fresh set of downs or a touchdown.

The play has been incredibly effective for the Eagles, so much that Hurts finished in a tie for the fifth-most rushing touchdowns (14) in 2024. Many NFL clubs have attempted to replicate the play in their own fashion, with some choosing a side of the line, and others building in misdirection elements that see the ball carrier target an angle outside of the A-gap. None, however, have done it as well as the Eagles, who even drew Washington offside on multiple consecutive attempts during the NFC Championship Game in January.

The "Tush Push" has drawn the ire of opponents, leading to the proposal Vincent revealed Monday. Justifying its illegality, however, could be difficult.

Question on the Tush Push play is whether it could be modified to keep some semblance of the play intact. The play is run so infrequently that there isnt enough injury data for the league to push for a ban based on injuries alone.
Judy Battista (@judybattista) February 24, 2025

Essentially, a potential clash of ideologies is being set up within the NFL's competition committee and annual consideration of proposals.

Last year, the league's owners approved the new dynamic kickoff format and banned the hip-drop tackle. Outlawing the "Brotherly Shove" was not on the agenda.

"Hip drop and the Tush Push were in the same conversation three years ago," Vincent told Battista. "A year ago, we felt like let's just focus in on the hip-drop tackle, and the Tush Push, just say, hey, the Philadelphia Eagles, they just do it better than everybody else. But there are some concerns. Our health and safety committee has laid that out today with a brief conversation on the injury report. There's some challenges, some concerns that they'll share with the broader group tomorrow. But the Tush Push will become a topic of discussion moving into March."

Bills head coach Sean McDermott, one of four NFL coaches on the league's competition committee, was asked about the proposal on Monday during his NFL Scouting Combine news conference.

"There's always been injury risk, and I've expressed that opinion over the last couple of years when it really started to come into play the way it's being used, especially a year ago," McDermott said. "I just feel like player safety and the health and safety of our players has to be at the top of our game, which it is. It's just that play to me or the way that the techniques that are used with that play to me have been potentially contrary to the health and safety of the players. Again, you have to go back in fairness to the injury data on the play, but I just think the optics of it, I'm not in love with."

The competition committee will have a month to prepare its arguments before the Annual League Meeting, which begins on March 30.

https://www.nfl.com/news/unnamed-nfl-team-proposes-rule-to-ban-tush-push-play-popularized-by-eagles

Temperatures must've gone above freezing in Green Bay for their frozen tears to melt. What a dumb thing to be mad about. Gameplan around it, and nobody's forcing you to suck at it.

Anyone else can do the play..and they tried and failed.

Screw the Tush Push, we need to start seeing the Bart Dart:

https://youtu.be/KCsFbb-LFto?t=18

I agree it should be banned.
It's such a shitty play all around.

People that want it banned don't give a damn about player safety, let's be honest.

cjsdowg posted...

Anyone else can do the play..and they tried and failed.

Many teams have been successfully using it.

Cowards

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Are they not allowed to?

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There'd be no reason to do an equivalent of the "tush push" on defense. Lining up to do such a thing would just cause the offense to audible. And you can't just do it on the fly in reaction, since the offense gets the jump first.

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How bizarre. I can get why it would generally not be a good idea to stack up as the defense, but the fact that it's against the rules is just silly.

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The defense is allowed to push their teammates. They do it every time they defend the tush push / brotherly shove. What you've misunderstood is that defenses specifically are not allowed to push each other on Special Teams plays. This is to protect the long snapper. And therefore has nothing at all to do with the tush push.

Richard Sherman was asked about the tush push in an interview and for some reason brought that rule up, and millions of people misinterpreted it the same way you did.

ellis123 posted...

How bizarre. I can get why it would generally not be a good idea to stack up as the defense, but the fact that it's against the rules is just silly.

There are several things the offense can't do that the defense can, and vice versa. Stiff arm is a big one. A ball carrier can open palm push against a face mask as long as they don't grab it, but a defender cannot.

EDIT: Also, the above. The rule only applies to special teams.

HashtagSEP posted...

There are several things the offense can't do that the defense can, and vice versa. Stiff arm is a big one. A ball carrier can open palm push against a face mask as long as they don't grab it, but a defender cannot.

EDIT: Also, the above. The rule only applies to special teams.

To be fair, that actually makes sense for the offense to be able to do but not the defense. I'm not finding it bizarre that there isn't 100% parity, but that specifically stacking + pushing isn't allowed.

ellis123 posted...

To be fair, that actually makes sense for the offense to be able to do but not the defense. I'm not finding it bizarre that there isn't 100% parity, but that specifically stacking + pushing isn't allowed.

It is allowed. Just not on special teams, since the long snapper is basically kneeling on the ground completely defenseless, and thus to allow the defense to push through would basically trample the guy.

I do not agree with creating rules that target the success of a single team.....

However... previous rules would have prevented this current situation as the offense was up until 2005 not allowed to push or pull an offensive player.

Basically, I didn't really agree with the change in 2005 so I'd be fine to revert to those previous rules, but hesitate only because it seems a reaction to how one team is really good at something.

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My bad, too, I misunderstood what you were saying. I thought you were talking about like, a 1:1 equivalent to the tush push, when I said there's no reason to do it. Not just pushing in general.

HashtagSEP posted...

It is allowed. Just not on special teams, since the long snapper is kneeling on the ground completely defenseless, and thus to allow the defense to push through would basically trample the guy.

Ah, okay then.

ellis123 posted...

Ah, okay then.

Yeah, on special teams the snapper isn't just giving the ball to the QB, it's a more committed role where they gotta snap the ball further back, so they're bent much further over and thus completely defenseless. I didn't mean to say "kneeling," but it's basically at that height.

To be clear, the biggest advantage the offense has in the tush push is that they know the snap count. The other big advantage is that forward progress favors the offense. So even if the initial push stalls, if a second wind pushes the pile forward a few seconds later it'll still work. Both of those are true for every football play though. And it's the reason QB sneaks in general have always been some of the highest success percentage plays. Tom Brady for example, who is the GOAT but not particularly because of his physicality, was extremely consistent at getting one yard and is one of the best QB sneakers ever.

The Eagles took an already extremely high success play and made it a bit more consistent. The play design gets credit but it can't be emphasized enough that other teams don't have the same success with it than the Eagles do. Yes, other teams do have some success with it. Because, again, QB sneaks are some of the most successful plays. Bills fans would have told you that they're really good at the tush push too. Until they failed it with the highest stakes possible in the AFC championship this year.

The reason the Eagles do it is primarily because the Eagles are widely considered to have the best offensive line. Beginning with Jeff Stoutland being considered the best offensive line coach. But more specifically, Lane Johnson is a future hall of famer. Jason Kelce is a future hall of famer (speaking for the tush pushes before he retired), and his protege replacement Cam Jurgens is shaping up to follow his footsteps. Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson combine to be the strongest left side of the line in football right now.

They probably practice it more than other teams do in general too. But that's the major reason it works. The Eagles offensive line is simply stronger than most teams defensive lines.

aarrgus posted...

However... previous rules would have prevented this current situation as the offense was up until 2005 not allowed to push or pull an offensive player.

Basically, I didn't really agree with the change in 2005 so I'd be fine to revert to those previous rules, but hesitate only because it seems a reaction to how one team is really good at something.

This, the rules just need to go back to what they were before. If the defense can't push a player back to make them lose yards on a play, then the offense shouldn't be allowed to push them forwards. But it'll never happen because the NFL wants bigger numbers and higher stats, so the rules advantage will always favor the offense.

Want to stop it? Play better defense the play before.

There are times where multiple people are tackling an offensive player out in the open field. And in order to gain a couple yards offensive players run to the stalled player to push if the whistle hasn't been blown yet to attempt to get a couple extra yards.

Tush push just seems like taking that concept to goal line or short yardage situations. It is broken in favor of the offense but it not like they are doing it every play. And it is something other teams can do themselves if they want.

aarrgus posted...

I do not agree with creating rules that target the success of a single team.....

However... previous rules would have prevented this current situation as the offense was up until 2005 not allowed to push or pull an offensive player.

Basically, I didn't really agree with the change in 2005 so I'd be fine to revert to those previous rules, but hesitate only because it seems a reaction to how one team is really good at something.

Well stated.

It's horse shit to call it out now after Philly has had success with it, but the pushing rule should never have been amended to enable it in the first place.

Reverting now would be an awful look.

aarrgus posted...

I do not agree with creating rules that target the success of a single team.....

However... previous rules would have prevented this current situation as the offense was up until 2005 not allowed to push or pull an offensive player.

Basically, I didn't really agree with the change in 2005 so I'd be fine to revert to those previous rules, but hesitate only because it seems a reaction to how one team is really good at something.

El_Marsh posted...

Well stated.

It's horse shit to call it out now after Philly has had success with it, but the pushing rule should never have been amended to enable it in the first place.

Reverting now would be an awful look.

Even when pushing wasn't technically allowed it was literally never called as a penalty. The rule was almost impossible to enforce because dudes are constantly push each other all the time and there's no clear place to draw the line. That's why it was just removed altogether.

The proposed attempts to kill the tush push won't be reinstating the pushing ban. It'll be some hyper-specific minutia aimed at specifically stopping the specific way that the Eagles have been pushing on the QB sneak.

Also ironically the Packers have been kind of good at the tush push too. So it's sorta weird they're the ones trying to lead the charge. Except maybe some dude somewhere in the Packers organization is mad that they lost to the Eagles in the playoffs.

Pack it up, pack it in...

Eagles response to Packers

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/28f4a46d.jpg

*taps mic* Tuck rule

I like how the team accused of using it to win the Ice Bowl is proposing that it be banned.

This sounds like some bitch ass Drake shit