The style of quarterback sneak used to great success by the Philadelphia Eagles to get Jalen Hurts into the end zone or to first-down yardage could be banned by a proposal that will be considered by the NFL’s team owners.
On Wednesday, the NFL released the changes to the league’s playing rules, bylaws and resolutions proposed by its teams. Included were three changes to the playing rules, with the Green Bay Packers seeking to outlaw the play known as the Tush Push and the Brotherly Shove.
Green Bay seeks to amend Rule 12, Section 1, Article 4. Article 4 deals with rules on assisting the runner and interlocking interference.
The Packers’ proposal would add a fourth prohibition under the “no offensive player may” introduction that would read “immediately at the snap, push or throw his body against a teammate who was lined up directly behind the snapper and received the snap to aid him in an attempt to gain yardage.”
Violation of the rule would carry a 10-yard penalty.
It was a previous rule change, which dropped the prohibition against pushing ball-carriers, that allowed the Eagles to develop the play that uses the other backs to add pushing power to Hurts’ churn into the line.
In his four seasons as Philadelphia’s starting quarterback, the former Alabama quarterback has scored 54 touchdowns. Thirty-three of those came on 1-yard runs. During that time, he also has set the NFL record for playoff touchdowns by a quarterback with 10. Half came on 1-yard runs.
Hurts had had four consecutive seasons with at least 10 touchdown runs. No other quarterback has had more than two.
While speaking with reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said it sounded like sour grapes to try to prohibit a play that Philadelphia has mastered and other teams have struggled to copy.
“It’s a little insulting to say we’re good at it, so it’s automatic,” Sirianni said. “We work really hard at it. You see it throughout the league. I mean, we saw it in the championship game that a team failed at it and, ultimately, didn’t end up winning the game because of it. Every week, I watch every first-and-goal, red-zone fail every single time. Sometimes that first-and-goal starts at the 1, and you see the team not be able to get in because they’re not able to do that. I think it’s a skill that our team has because of the players that we have, the way the coaches coach it. Again, there’s just so much time put into it. The fact that it’s a successful play for the Eagles and people want to take that away is a little unfair.”
The reasons given to support the Packers’ proposal are “player safety” and “pace of play.”
Sirianni said the safety claim is bogus.
“I think when you look at that -- because we’ve looked into that, too -- there wasn’t a lot of injuries there,” Sirianni said. “I think that’s a little made up, to be honest. Now, the numbers will tell the truth, but I don’t think there were many injuries with it this year. I can’t remember one injury we had on that play, and we ran it more than anybody else.”
The day after Sirianni’s comments, Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, told reporters that the league’s injury survey hadn’t found any associated with Tush Push-style quarterback sneaks in the 2024 season.
The league’s competition committee will submit proposals for rules changes to the NFL team owners at the annual league meeting March 30 through April 2. Twenty-four of the team owners – 75 percent – must vote in favor of a change for it to be adopted.
The Eagles also made a rules proposal, advocating for overtime rules in the regular season to match those in the playoffs. That would allow each team to have a possession in the extra period. Currently in the regular season, a team getting the ball first in overtime can end the game with a touchdown.
The Detroit Lions proposed the elimination of the automatic first down when the defensive team is penalized for holding or illegal contact.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OURNFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at@AMarkG1.