Tush Push ban: NFL teams to vote on banning Eagles' famous play Tuesday

PALM BEACH, Fla. - The ‘tush push’ play made famous by the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles has been the hottest topic of the NFL’s annual meetings this week. 

NFL owners, coaches, and general managers have gathered at a Palm Beach, Florida resort to discuss a number of rule changes. 

However, the Green Bay Packers’ proposal to eliminate the play that’s become a short-yardage staple for the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles has become the most controversial. 

What they're saying:

Packers officials submitted their proposal to ban offensive players from being able to push their teammates who are lined up behind the center forward. 

The Packers, who have not beaten the Eagles in a game since 2020 and lost to them this past season, cited player safety and pace of play as reasons for banning the tush push. 

NFL executive Troy Vincent said last month there have been zero injuries reported as a result of the play.

Any rule change must be approved by 24 out of 32 team owners.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was asked about the proposal over the weekend and quipped about wanting support from his former assistants who have since become head coaches. 

"We’ll see how it goes," Sirianni said Monday, "All I will say about it is (Johnathan) Gannon, (Shane) Steichen and (Kellen) Moore better vote for it. 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."

Tampa Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles made it clear last month he wouldn’t support a ban.

"It’s a rugby element, but at the same time, when a team gets something that they’re good at, you gotta learn how to stop," Bowles said. "I don’t think the first thing you can do is try to take it out of the ball game because that takes away the creativity of everybody trying to do everything else. So you gotta learn how to stop it. Until we learn how to stop it, they’re gonna continue. It it’s not broke, don’t fix it."

Dig deeper:

Other changes include making the dynamic kickoff rule permanent and overhauling the playoff format.

The NFL competition committee has recommended sticking with the kickoff rule that was redesigned last year and tweaking it to move touchbacks to the 35-yard line in hopes of generating even more returns.

The Detroit Lions proposed that playoff seeding should be based on record instead of automatically placing division winners in the top four spots.

The committee also proposed an expansion of instant replay to allow replay assist to consult on-field officials to overrule objective calls such as facemask penalties, whether there was forcible contact to the head or neck area, horse-collar tackles or tripping if there was "clear and obvious" evidence that a foul didn’t occur. Replay would also be able to overturn a roughing the kicker or running into the kicker penalty if video replay showed the defender made contact with the ball.