Why the Tush Push Should Stay in the Game
Today, NFL owners voted on a series of rule changes for the upcoming 2025 NFL season. Some of the most noteworthy rule changes include guaranteeing both teams an offensive possession during regular season overtime, moving touchbacks to the 35-yard line, replacing the primacy of the chain-gang with Sony’s Hawk-Eye cameras when measuring first downs, and expanding the use of replay assist, potentially aiding officials in ensuring correct calls amid a ramping narrative of referee incompetence. The biggest anticipation around the rule changes revolved around what the league would do about the infamous Philadelphia Eagles’ “Tush Push.” After a heated debate about the play’s potentially unfair effectiveness and risk to player health and safety, the owners motioned to table the measure to ban the play, revisiting a potential ban in May. It feels like a silly move for the league to decide and announce massive rule changes on April Fools’ Day, but had the Tush Push been banned, “fool” would have been the key word.
The Tush Push seems to have generated a decent amount of vitriol amongst its detractors in the NFL. Numerous coaches and players over the last few seasons have been quite vocal about their opposition, if not outright distaste, at the play. It has been called cheap, overpowered, dangerous, and against the spirit of the game. These claims are, quite frankly, either ridiculous or drenched with envy, if not both.
The Tush Push, mechanically, is a simple quarterback sneak behind the left guard and tackle, with the offensive line immediately pushing forward in a wedge formation at the snap, with the controversial addition of having multiple running backs push on the QB from behind, driving him forward. The Tush Push, spiritually, is an ugly, smashmouth, brutally effective run play that relies on great physical strength from the entire offense and centers around the offensive line doing their job. That sounds perfectly in line with “what football is” and what it has been for over a century. I’m fairly certain you could go back to the days of John Heisman and he’d recognize the Tush Push as legitimate, proper football.
On a technical level, opposition to the Tush Push revolves around the running backs shoving the quarterback from behind to drive him forward with extra power. This is despite the fact that the NFL lifted a ban on pushing the ball carrier all the way back in 2005. Put another way, this wasn’t an issue for almost two decades, and there are active NFL players today who have lived literally their entire lives with this procedure in place. Why is this suddenly a problem now?
The truth is that the Tush Push is a problem now because the team that is most famous for running it just won the Super Bowl, scoring the very first points of the game with the infamous play. It is true that the Eagles have been very successful converting either a first down or touchdown with the Tush Push over the last few seasons. Detractors point at this and cry that the Eagles are too successful, that the play is unfair and unbeatable. These claims aren’t rooted in reality.
In reality, if a play were truly “unbeatable” in the must-win atmosphere of the NFL, every single offense of all 32 NFL franchises would have it in their playbook. The only other team getting any real usage of the Tush Push other than the Eagles is the Buffalo Bills, another consistent championship contender. These are the same Buffalo Bills who utilized the Tush Push numerous times against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship, coming up short of a conversion on multiple iterations of the play, killing the myth of the formation’s infallibility on the highest stage possible. The Eagles are not the only ones who use the Tush Push, they’re simply the ones who use it the most and do it the best.
The real reason the Eagles are so successful with the Tush Push while the rest of the league is afraid to even try it comes down to their fantastic roster’s perfect compatibility with the play. The Eagles’ gargantuan offensive linemen Landon Dickerson and Jordan Mailata lend their herculean strength to clear a path for quarterback Jalen Hurts, also possessing an incredible amount of physical strength. Even removing the fact that multiple players drive Jalen Hurts forward, the three men central to the play’s success simply punch above the standard of size and strength at their respective positions. Do you really think the play would be as effective with an undersized left guard and tackle propelled by the smaller frame of a Drew Brees, Doug Flutie, or Kyler Murray?
The reality of the movement to ban the Tush Push comes down to punishing the Philadelphia Eagles for constructing, developing, and finding success with their offensive roster’s unique strengths. Any banning of the play would result in a grossly disproportionate impact that would hurt one specific franchise far, far above 31 others. When Justin Jefferson burns past any would-be covering DBs, you don’t ban throwing the ball deep, you have a defense run double high safety. When Lamar Jackson breaks away for a 50-yard designed QB draw, you don’t ban quarterback scrambling, you designate a QB spy. When it comes to the Tush Push, the solution is simple: either find a way to emulate it or develop a way to stop it on the field.
