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The battle over the Philadelphia Eagles’ tush push continues in NFL circles. A push to ban the play received the support of sixteen teams at this week’s NFL League Meetings, and it seems like momentum is growing towards outlawing elements of the play that has helped turn the Eagles into short-yardage monsters.
Albert Breer, an NFL insider for Sports Illustrated, thinks that some of the actions around the tush push are giving us a hint on how MLB commissioner Roger Goodell is feeling on the issue. And, it’s not good news for the Eagles.
Since deciding to run a quarterback sneak with a push from behind with Jalen Hurts under center in 2021, Philadelphia has been nearly unstoppable in short yardage situations. Other teams have tried similar approaches with varying levels of success, likely due to having a quarterback not as strong as Hurts and an interior offensive line not as good as Philly’s.
There’s a big movement to ban the play, or at least how the play is run, led by the Green Bay Packers. It’s been reported that half of the league’s teams supported the initiative to ban the play, eight short of the 24 teams needed to change the rules. But, instead of the rule change being defeated until next year, it was tabled. According to Breer, this shows where Goodell sits on the issue.
Coming into the NFL’s annual meeting, I wondered where commissioner Roger Goodell stood on the Philadelphia Eagles’ infamous push play. Coming out of it, I feel like I’ve got my answer: He’d like to find a way to take it out of the game.
Generally, when Goodell doesn’t have the votes—and via a straw poll, he wasn’t particularly close this time around—but wants to spend some time figuring out a way to get them, he’ll table a proposal, like he did the Green Bay Packers’ tush push ban, until the May meeting. In this case, I do think the lack of needed support for the play went back to two things.
Does that mean Goodell will get his way? No. Contrary to common belief, he frequently is overruled by the owners. But, it’s something to monitor.