The Philadelphia Eagles’ introduction and use of the aptly named “Tush Push” play has been controversial from the start. Taking advantage of a 2005 rule change that allowed teammates to push (but not pull) a ball carrier forward, they became virtually unstoppable in short-yardage situations.
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No other teams—except perhaps the Buffalo Bills, who faltered when it mattered most last year—have come close to matching their success. Naturally, that sparked some envy and jealousy. To that end, the Green Bay Packers submitted a proposal to ban the play at the league meetings in February. The vote ended 16-16, well short of the 24 votes needed for approval.
However, the Packers have resubmitted an amended proposal for this week’s league meetings in Minnesota. The prevailing sentiment is that the anti-tush push brigade has done enough legwork in the interim to convince enough votes to cross the aisle this time around. How did we come to this?
Well, NBC’s Mike Florio believes the tipping point was a specific play during Philly’s NFC Championship win over the Washington Commanders last season.
“The first we heard about the possibility that the tush push was going to be on the endangered species list came from Mike Pereira, who currently works for Fox. He’s the former NFL VP of officiating,” said the PFT journalist.
“He made a comment in the aftermath of the NFC Championship that there’s gonna be an effort to get rid of the tush push because of what happened when Washington was repeatedly jumping offside.”
Florio is referring to a moment in the Eagles-Commanders NFC Championship game when the Eagles were lined up to run the tush push at the one-yard line. Because they were so close to the goal line, any penalties on the Commanders’ defense were essentially moot, as Philly couldn’t advance the ball any further.
In response, the Commanders repeatedly jumped offside to try and gain an advantage against the tush push. This prompted referee Shaun Hochuli to pull out the flag and warn the Commanders that he would penalize them properly if they didn’t stop.
“To the point where referee Shaun Hochuli had to warn the Commanders that there was going to be a finding of a ‘palpably unfair act’, and an awarding of a touchdown to the Eagles if they did it one more time,” Florio continued.
“A rule that’s never been used in the history of the NFL was gonna be invoked because Washington realized, hey, we’re backed up against our goal line, half the distance, half the distance, half the distance, keep going half the distance.”
Essentially, Florio believes the Commanders came up with a response to the tush push that was so embarrassing to the league that it prompted them to push for a ban. And, as Florio points out, the logic behind that decision seems a little flawed, to say the least.
“We’re gonna keep trying to time this and jump over the line and disrupt it, there’s no downside to it. Pereira said that incident was gonna spark an effort to get rid of the tush push… You’re gonna take away something because somebody came up with an idea to try to stop it that created an embarrassment? The Eagles had nothing to do with that, it’s on the Commanders.”
We haven’t heard the Commanders debacle mentioned in most discussions about banning the tush push. Most people supporting the ban cite health or competitive risks. However, we do believe that behind closed doors, that embarrassment for the league on the second-biggest stage likely factored in as well.
