The bad news for the league office (which recruited the Packers to make the proposal) is the vote to ban the tush push fell two teams short of passing. The good news for the league office is that more than two-thirds of all owners are on board with dumping it.
The reality for 2025 is that the league will continue to monitor the play, possibly with the goal of making another run at dumping it in 2026.
During his press conference to cap the May ownership meeting, Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked: (1) whether he favored the proposal; and (2) what was his reaction to the vote failing?
Goodell said, as to both the playoff reseeding proposal (which the league instigated the Lions to make) and the tush-push ban, that he “usually take\[s\] a neutral position on wanting to make sure that the process goes well, but also that there’s a full discussion.” Of course, taking a neutral position at the meeting and being the potential prime mover for the effort to get two teams to carry the flag are two different things. Even if, as he said, he took no position when it was time to hash it out.
As to the tush-push ban, Goodell said the Competition Committee will continue to study it.
“We’ll see how it plays out this season,” Goodell said. “And then we’ll come back, and we’ll discuss those as we always do every year. What’s the right way to go forward? So, I think the discussion was helpful to us and what we want to focus on this season.”
In other words, it’s not over. The league will study it. The league will revisit it. And the league quite possibly will address it again, either through the Competition Committee or by nudging a team to tee it up.
We believe the league office (which is run by the Commissioner) wants it to be gone. We believe nothing that happens this season will change that decidedly non-neutral point of view. If anything, the league will become more determined to get rid of it — especially if more teams commit multiple offside fouls near the goal line in an effort to stop it, or if the league can find (or manufacture) injury data to support the conclusion that the play is not safe.
It only takes two votes. And, when it comes to getting those two votes, all’s fair.
Yes, the Eagles possibly will try to get some of the 22 teams who voted to kill the play to change their positions, while the league is trying to get two of the 10 to flip.
In that regard, consider this: Who has more power? Who is in a better position to make deals? To make subtle, or not-so-subtle threats of retribution for standing firm against the will and wishes of 345 Park Avenue?
We’re not saying the league has made deals/threats or would make deals/threats. We’re just saying that, between the league office and the Eagles, the NFL has far more juice when it comes to squeezing arms.