There hasn’t been a single play more polarizing, perhaps in the entirety of NFL history, than the Philadelphia Eagles’ Tush Push. Maybe the Tuck Rule could give it a challenge, but no, this play is as controversial as it gets. Prior to 2005, it was illegal to push or pull the ball carrier. However, that year, the NFL lifted the ban on pushing while retaining the bans on pulling and carrying.
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Yet it took nearly two decades for a team to truly take advantage of that little loophole. And when they did, the Birds ran with it. They’ve perfected the play to such an extent that their opponents gave up trying to stop it and instead tried to vote on banning it during the NFL’s league meetings this past offseason. They failed in the end.
The Eagles have continued using it to devastating effect so far in 2025, going 6/6 on Sunday against the Chiefs. And already, the play is causing controversy through Week 2.
Now more than ever, it’s hard to see that vote not passing when the proposal to ban the Tush Pudh is inevitably resubmitted next offseason. NFL great Asante Samuel agrees that the play is on its last legs.
“I’m afraid this may be the last season the Eagles will be able to use their best play in short-yardage situations. Especially after playing against the Chiefs,” Samuel said on his podcast, Say What Needs to Be Said.
“One thing about it, if you can’t beat ’em, complain about it. So the Chiefs are complaining about the play. And because the play is basically being used as a cheat code, that’s how everybody in the NFL feels. We can’t do it, so you shouldn’t be able to do it,” he added.
Samuel, who played for Philly from 2008 to 2011, suggested that if the Eagles really wanted to, they could probably call the Tush Push on every single play and move up and down the field that way. And while they theoretically could, the physically draining impact on the Philly players would likely stop them short in reality.
Former Eagles center Jason Kelce, whose low center of gravity and power allowed the Tush Push to come about in the first place, has called the play “gruelling” for linemen.
Kelce also noted that the Eagles need to be careful moving forward, as there will be increased scrutiny on the play. Especially when it comes to Eagles players lining up offside, which is a controversy stemming from last week’s game against the Chiefs.
“They’re going to be under the microscope moving forward. Everybody is going to be looking at this because of what happened. They’re saying they’re in the neutral zone. They’re saying they’re false starting because they slow it down to 1,000 frames per second… They need to be very, very cautious because the calls are going to be starting to come. And they should be.”
The play’s survivability is being seriously challenged by the fact that it’s becoming increasingly clear that it is a very difficult play to officiate. Referees can’t really see anything in that mass of bodies, and a closer look reveals the Eagles’ linemen are lining up offside very often on the play.
One thing it has going for it is that there have been no injuries reported on a Tush Push play. However, the risk is still there, according to many. In April, the owners were split on the idea, so a vote was not even taken, as they require a 3/4 majority to pass such a ban. However, just a month later, much had changed.
In May, the Green Bay Packers, who were the ones pushing the hardest to outlaw the play, led another campaign. However, they fell just two votes short, getting 22 of the 24 they needed. So the Tush Push lived on. For one year at least. That recent vote meant the anti-Tush Push contingent flipped six owners in the span of a month.
We’d imagine that if the Eagles continue to convert the play at a 96.6 success rate (far higher than the rest of the league’s 84.8 success rate), since first using it on 4th-and-1 or shorter in 2022, the offseason vote might end up 31-1.
