Report: Tush Push ban has some support among NFL execs ahead of Tuesday’s vote

PALM BEACH, Fla. — As the NFL convenes for the annual league meetings this week, the scrutiny around the Tush Push will reach its inflection point.

A fresh round of discussions across the league about the play popularized by the Eagles over the last few years began after the Green Bay Packers proposed banning the push sneak last month. The proposed rule change would aim to “prohibit an offensive player from pushing a teammate who was lined up directly behind the snapper and receives the snap, immediately at the snap.”

Now, the polarizing proposal will take center stage ahead of a vote set for Tuesday.

» READ MORE: Opinion: Tush Push pushback is just more Philly and Eagles hate from the NFL’s establishment

According to an ESPN report, there is support from some league executives for Green Bay’s rule change, which caused “heated” debates during a meeting on Sunday afternoon. One of the “animated” discussions reportedly included Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, Eagles assistant general manager Jon Ferrari, Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott, and Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay in a side hallway separate from the main meeting.

Asked about the reported support for the rule change on Monday, Roseman said he’d reserve his opinions for the upcoming meetings with league officials.

“I’m not going to talk about any of the rule proposals here,” Roseman said. “That’s something we’ll discuss on the floor [on Tuesday]. Obviously, that’s a league matter and we’ll kind of take it from there.”

McDermott and McVay are each members of this year’s NFL competition committee, which will present its findings surrounding the proposed rule change to the league owners in the coming days. The 32 owners are expected to vote on the proposal Tuesday morning and will need 24 yes votes to enact a ban.

During a media availability on Monday morning, McDermott said his objection to the play stems from the perceived injury risk it poses.

“Where I’m most concerned is, even though there’s not significant data out there to this point, my biggest concern is the health and safety of the players,” McDermott said. “It’s two things — it’s force, added force, number one, and then the posture of the players. Being asked to execute that type of play, that’s where my concern comes in.”

It’s worth noting the Bills have run a version of the sneak play with Josh Allen in the past as well. McDermott said Monday his research surrounding the play this offseason wouldn’t keep him from running “a form of it” moving forward. He also said he thinks both the Eagles and Bills would be successful even if the rule change outlawing the pushing element of the play went into effect.

“There’s different forms of it out there,” McDermott said. “I know we’re one of the teams that people identify that run it. That’s fair. There’s other teams as well. We’re going to act in the best interest of the health and safety of the players, I think that’s the responsible way to go.”

“I believe both teams can be just as good in a traditional form of a quarterback sneak,” he said. “And they’ve shown that over the years, Philadelphia and us. Both teams have shown that and that’s also partly why I believe what I believe.”

» READ MORE: Packers cite player safety and pace of play in proposing rule change to ban Eagles’ Tush Push

Past discussions surrounding the play have fizzled in part because of a lack of statistical evidence that it actually poses a greater injury risk to players. The NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent, said last year that there was an absence of data supporting the injury concerns. On Monday, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who also is a member of the competition committee, echoed that sentiment.

“There’s not a big enough sample size to point to statistics,” Tomlin said. “But me and everyone else is listening to the perspective of the medical experts as opposed to statistics, because it’s just not a large enough sample size in terms of the number of times the play has been executed whether it’s in 2024 or just in general.”

Tomlin later added, “You hate to be against it because, when people are innovative, you want to respect that. There have certainly been some teams that have been more innovative than the rest of us in that regard and you’d hate to penalize them for it. But again, we got into the discussion on the field goal block because of the player safety and that still remains a component of the discussion.”

McDermott said his objection to the play isn’t tied to the data, but instead the feedback the committee has gotten from medical professionals.

“I don’t think [the data] is really always the best way to go,” McDermott said. “There’s other [numbers] out there that suggests when you’re in a posture like we’re talking about, that can lead to serious injury. I think being responsible and proactive in that regard is the right way to go.”

Speaking to NFL Network on Sunday, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said he expected to have support from Jonathan Gannon, Shane Steichen, and Kellen Moore, each of whom has landed a head coaching job after spending time on the Eagles staff in recent years.

“All I will say about it is Gannon, Steichen, and Moore better vote for it,” Sirianni told NFL Network. “They are in the position right now because of that play. So all three, I better have those three votes right there and the Eagles’ vote. I at least know we have four.”

Steichen voiced his support for the play on Monday morning, as did Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski.

“To eliminate a quarterback sneak from getting pushed?” Stefanski said. “Yeah, I don’t know that it’s something that needs to be legislated out of the game. The injury data’s not there. So I would be in favor of keeping the rules as they are. You’re welcome, Coach Sirianni.”

Steichen added, “I think it should stay in football. That’s just my opinion.”

This is the third offseason in a row in which the competition committee has tabled discussions about the Eagles’ quarterback sneaks. Each of the last two annual league meetings has concluded with the NFL owners electing not to outlaw the Eagles’ approach to the play.

The Eagles ran the play with great effect last season, as they have each of the last few years, with two or more players in the backfield pushing Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts through the pile in short-yardage situations. Hurts led the league’s quarterbacks with 14 rushing touchdowns last season primarily thanks to the sneak plays and the Eagles finished the season ranked fourth in fourth-down efficiency.

» READ MORE: The Eagles’ Tush Push got a helpful nudge from a Scottish rugby coach

“Well, I think they got the offensive line to do it, and I think they got the quarterback to do it,” Steichen said Monday. “And I remember when we were there my first year, we put it in, and then obviously we started going, ‘Hey, let’s do this, and let’s do that.’ Next thing you know we’re like, ‘Hey, let’s put two pushers back there.’ And that just became the play.”

And while the play has received plenty of scrutiny each of the last few years, it’s worth noting Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy’s public criticism of the Tush Push in January emphasized a series of penalties from the Washington Commanders in an unsuccessful attempt to thwart the play during the NFC championship game. Washington committed three successive encroachment fouls with Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu trying to leap over the Eagles’ offensive line just before the snap. After the third flag, the officials warned they could “award a score” to the Eagles if the foul was intentionally done again.

“I am not a fan of this play,” Murphy wrote in a column on the Packers’ website. “There is no skill involved and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less. … I would like to see the league prohibit pushing or aiding the runner [QB] on this play. There used to be a rule prohibiting this, but it is no longer enforced because I believe it was thought to be too hard for the officials to see. The play is bad for the game, and we should go back to prohibiting the push of the runner. This would bring back the traditional QB sneak. That worked pretty well for Bart Starr and the Packers in the Ice Bowl.”