The tush push isn’t going anywhere.
NFL Executive V.P. of Football Operations Troy Vincent confirmed on Thursday that there is no proposal from any team or from the Competition Committee to ban the quarterback sneak play that the Eagles have run so effectively, and no plans to discuss a rule against the play at the upcoming owners’ meeting.
That echoes what Vincent said last month on PFT Live, when he said the NFL isn’t in the business of banning a play just because one team does it well.
The Eagles’ use of the play has been remarkably effective, with Jalen Hurts gaining a yard or two almost at will when he plunges up the middle and gets a “brotherly shove” from a teammate. There has been some talk that the play could be dangerous because it involves so many big bodies in such a big pile, but Vincent said there’s no injury data to support the idea that the play needs to be banned for player safety reasons.
One change to the tush push this year is that the Eagles will no longer have Jason Kelce in the middle of it all, as the veteran center who snapped the ball to Hurts on every tush push has retired. But even with a new center, the Eagles will keep doing it, and if opposing teams want to stop it they need to leave that to their defense, and not expect an NFL rule change. That’s not going to happen.
