“Packers Wanted to Abolish the Tush Push”: Jon Gruden Expects Nick Sirianni to Use the Controversial Move on MNF

The hype is building for Monday Night Football, as the Philadelphia Eagles head to Lambeau Field to face the Green Bay Packers in one of Week 10’s most anticipated matchups. But beyond the X’s and O’s, it’s the Eagles’ infamous tush push that’s making this game even more exciting. Why, you ask?

During his MNF preview, Jon Gruden reminded fans that it was the Packers themselves who pushed to eliminate the play that has become a Philly trademark.

“And remember, the Green Bay Packers, they’re the organization that proposed the end of the tush push,” Gruden said during his breakdown. “They went to the league meeting in the offseason. The Packers wanted to abolish the tush push that the Eagles have made famous. Well, nobody went for it. The tush push is still here.”

Former Packers president Mark Murphy spearheaded the team’s official proposal to ban the tush push, calling it a safety concern, a sentiment echoed by head coach Matt LaFleur and GM Brian Gutekunst. The proposal came up two votes short of the required 24 in the May league meetings, leaving the play legal for 2025.

Asked this week whether his view on the play has changed since, LaFleur didn’t bite.

“I’m not going to get into it,” LaFleur said Thursday. “It is what it is. The NFL made a decision, and we have to find a way to try to stop the play, and it’s a tough play to stop.”

However, he did acknowledge the challenge of facing it again on Monday night:

“You can’t allow them in those short-yardage situations because you know exactly what they’re going to do,” LaFleur said. “And they’ve been pretty successful at it, obviously.”

According to ESPN, Philadelphia has used the tush push 21 times through eight games this season, converting on 76.5% of attempts, slightly down from their near-elite 83% clip last season.

Ironically, Green Bay itself once dabbled in the technique, going 4-of-5 on tush pushes in 2023 with quarterback Jordan Love, before shelving the play entirely over safety concerns. When asked about the Packers’ past role in trying to outlaw the play, Nick Sirianni brushed off the narrative.

“I don’t get wrapped up too much into that,” Sirianni said Saturday. “No.” However, Gruden doesn’t think that’s going to be the case. According to the former coach, Sirianni is almost likely going to “put a fork in the Green Bay Packers, man, with that tush push.”

“He’s probably a little pissed off that they tried to abolish that play, but who knows?” Gruden also praised Sirianni’s preparation and coaching edge, noting that the Eagles coach is 11-1 when given extra time to prepare, a stat that could loom large heading into the primetime showdown.

“What a job he has done as head coach of the Eagles,” Gruden added. “When he has a little extra time to prepare, he’s been lights out. That’s going to come in handy as they get ready to play the Packers.”

If the Eagles line up and run a tush push on their first offensive series, as Gruden suspects, it would be a fitting response to the franchise that once tried to bury it. The Packers, once the face of the anti–tush push campaign, now have to find a way to stop the league’s best at running it.

And if Gruden’s instincts are right, Nick Sirianni may look to make his point the old-fashioned way, by pushing it straight up the middle.