Jason Kelce refutes ‘bogus’ Tush Push injury concerns — but does see one reason to ban it
The former Eagle was at the center of the controversial play more than anyone.
The Eagles’ famous Tush Push has been under fire for years partially because of alleged player safety issues.
A ban on the play proposed by the Green Bay Packers was expected to be voted on by NFL owners at the league meetings this week, but the league ultimately decided to table the discussion of a potential rule change until May. Jason Kelce, one of the staples of the Tush Push until his retirement in 2024, thinks the NFL using player safety issues as the justification to ban the play is “bogus.”
“Optically, it looks unsafe, but it’s football, man,” Kelce said Wednesday on his podcast, New Heights. “For me personally, I never felt like there’s that much more of a risk of injuring somebody on the play, and I don’t think there’s any statistics to back that up. Anybody saying that it’s going to lead to more injuries is pure conjecture, not rooted in fact.”
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The play “[stinks] to run,” Kelce said, but not because of danger, because of the physical exertion. Most of the injuries he saw during his 13 years in the league came off two types of plays — high-impact collisions and when players get rolled up on one another.
“It takes so much to try and get a yard,” Kelce said. “It’s not a high-impact collision. People don’t even get rolled up on because you’re keeping your feet moving. It’s not going to be a play, in my opinion, where you’re going to see this huge increase in chance of risk of injuries, it’s just not.”
However, Kelce was more sympathetic to the idea of banning the play to avoid giving one side a competitive advantage.
In the NFC championship against the Commanders, Washington linebacker Frankie Luvu jumped up and over the offensive line offsides on the Tush Push twice in a row to try to stop the Eagles from running the play — and the refs almost awarded the Eagles a score because of it.
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But it extends to the players’ ability to push and pull their own teammates.
“The only argument I see for potentially banning it is, is there a competitive advantage?” Kelce said. “Is it unfair that players can push? And should we allow players to push, rather than ballcarriers or anybody having to do things on their own? But I think that that’s going to be a hard rule to enforce. When is that enforced? Are gang tackles outlawed? Are open field, like when Creed Humphrey gets behind the running back and he’s pushing the pile forward? Do we not want that?”
Despite the vote being tabled, there appears to be momentum behind banning the Tush Push, with reports that commissioner Roger Goodell also wants the play out of the game and will be working between now and next month’s meeting to drum up enough votes to ban it.