The Eagles (by far) run the Tush Push more than any other team.
The Eagles (by far) run the Tush Push more than any other team.Chris Szagola/Associated Press
PALM BEACH, Fla. — The NFL owners were split down the middle Tuesday about the Packers’ rule proposal to ban the Tush Push — 16 voted in favor of outlawing the play, 16 voted to keep it as it is. The proposal got tabled until May, when they will vote on it again at their next meetings outside Minneapolis.
But the conversation took an unexpected turn Tuesday morning. Instead of banning the Tush Push, the NFL might rewrite the rulebook and dust off an old rule from 20 years ago.
In May, the owners might vote not on banning the Tush Push, but on whether to ban all pushing of ball carriers, as had been the rule until 2005. Roger Goodell and the NFL cite the potential risk of injury on pushing plays as a significant factor in considering the old rule.
It would need 24 votes to pass, meaning eight owners would need to change their minds between now and May.
“I think there are safety issues being considered with the Tush Push. We have very little data but we see the potential risk,” Goodell said Tuesday. “It makes a lot of sense to go back to the old rule prohibiting pulling or pushing ball carriers.”
The Tush Push, run almost exclusively by the Eagles, entails a quarterback sneak in which Jalen Hurts is aided by a teammate pushing him from behind. But running backs and receivers can also be “pushed” down the field by teammates even when it appears their forward momentum has been stopped.
Through the 2004 season, all pushing was outlawed as part of NFL rule 12.1.1, which enforced a 10-yard foul for teammates who push or pull their ball carrier forward. The NFL removed the “pushing” part of the rule in 2005, but much of the discussion Tuesday revolved around bringing it back.
“We had rules in place that prohibited pushing and pulling, and we deleted that from the book because it became harder for our officials to officiate downfield what was going on,” said Rich McKay, chairman of the competition committee. “So I think the idea was, instead of voting on this particular proposal today, Green Bay asked could we go back and introduce the 2004 language, study it, understand it, and talk about it again when we get back in May?”
The Tush Push was one of the few contentious items at this week’s meetings, and the Packers’ proposal to ban it garnered significant support. Packers CEO Mark Murphy declined to comment on it Tuesday but previously said “there is no skill involved” and it is “bad for the game.” The Eagles have an 86 percent success rate over the last three years with the Tush Push, which Murphy called “almost an automatic first down.”
Critics also say the rugby-style play is ugly, goes against the history of the NFL, and is dangerous. Bills coach Sean McDermott, a member of the competition committee, is in favor of banning the play, even though his team ran it the second-most times behind the Eagles.
“It’s force, added force, and then the posture of the players, being asked to execute that type of play, that’s where my concern comes in,” McDermott said.
The counter-arguments are that the NFL has not observed any injuries from the play, and that the Tush Push isn’t run enough to merit a rule change. According to ESPN data, the Tush Push was called on just 0.2 percent of plays last season, and the Eagles and Bills were the only ones who called it more than five times.
“There’s not that much data,” McKay said. “A lot of people are concerned with what may be, not what has been.”
The Eagles call the Tush Push overwhelmingly more than any other team, so changing the rule would be akin to punishing them.
“You never like any discussion and any rule to be projected toward a team or two,” McKay said. “There are definitely some people that have health and safety concerns, but there are just as many people that have football concerns.”
So instead of punishing the Eagles, the NFL will consider a ban on all forms of pushing or aiding a teammate with the ball.
In 2022, former head of officiating Mike Pereira described the difficulty in enforcing such a rule.
“What the league found was so difficult was you never were sure who was pushing who,” Pereira said then. “So you’re not necessarily pushing the runner. You could be pushing someone else that’s in contact with the runner. So it became really too difficult to officiate. Therefore, we just said, ‘OK, it’s legal to push.’ ”
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com.