EAGAN, Minn. — Can the tush push cross the goal line for good? Or will the NFL 's touchy and trendy short-yardage strategy ultimately get stuffed?
League owners will answer that question in Minnesota, where they're holding their spring meetings next to Vikings headquarters on Tuesday and Wednesday. After tabling the issue seven weeks ago for further discussion, a vote is expected on the proposal by the Green Bay Packers to prohibit the play popularized by the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. To pass the ban, 24 of the 32 teams must approve.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said last month he believes the owners will reach a consensus on the issue that involves both competitive integrity and player safety. The league released a revised proposal by the Packers on Monday that broadens the language to prohibit pushing, pulling, lifting or encircling a runner by any offensive player, not specific to quarterback assists. The penalty is 10 yards. This is what the rulebook stated 20 years ago, until the ban was lifted because of the difficulty of enforcement.
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie has been leading the defense of the play his team developed with the coinciding arrival of strong-legged quarterback Jalen Hurts in 2020.
The NFL has no conclusive data supporting a connection between the tush push and an injury risk increase, as Lurie noted at the last league meetings in Florida. The Buffalo Bills are also a frequent user and favor a ban for safety, though, as head coach Sean McDermott said after the vote was tabled. The tush push, which has also been dubbed the ''Brotherly Shove'' in a catchy and clever twist on the Greek-to-English translation of Philadelphia, not only assigns a player to push the backside of the quarterback for extra power behind a tight nine-man line but sometimes involves a blocker on the end pivoting to try to pull the ball carrier past the marker.
Health is only half of this debate, however. Entertainment is the other.
While the Eagles have nearly perfected the play for fourth-and-1 or 1-yard line situations with well-chosen personnel and well-rehearsed precision, it looks more like rugby than football.
The Packers, who lost to the Eagles in the first round of the playoffs last season, have been among several teams voicing their distaste for the evolution of the traditional quarterback sneak into an all-out scrum. On the memo distributed by the NFL on Monday, the reasons cited for the proposal are player safety and pace of play.
