NFL News: Packers Reportedly Propose Rule Change to Ban Eagles' 'Tush Push'

The NFL's executive vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent, told reporters on Monday that an "unnamed team" has proposed a ban of the famed "Tush Push" quarterback sneak.

That team reportedly is the Green Bay Packers:

The Packers leading the charge to ban the Tush Push shouldn't come as a major surprise, given their vocal dislike of the play in the past:

While the play has become a popular topic of conversation in the past few seasons, namely given the success of the Philadelphia Eagles in running it, the NFL made no plans to ban of the Tush Push last offseason, and neither the Competition Committee nor any teams made a proposal to eliminate it at that time.

However, in January The Athletic's Dianna Russini reported on her Scoop City podcast with Chase Daniel that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wasn't initially a huge fan of the play and that, behind the scenes, there were in fact some talks to eliminate it.

"[The NFL has discussed the Tush Push] in the past," she said (35:35 mark). "There was a time—it was last year, I reported it actually—that Roger Goodell didn't like the Tush Push. They've come back around on that and they quickly denied it. 'No, no, no, he's never shared his opinion about it.' I think there was a moment where there were some owners, and some people on the Competition Committee, that wanted to see the Tush Push banned. But I think it became so popular, and they saw the reaction from the NFL world, that I think they backed off it."

While the play wasn't as prominent a talking point this past season, the Eagles once again brought it to the forefront in the NFC Championship Game. The Washington Commanders went to such extremes to try and stop it—jumping offsides by the goal line several times—that the referees told them they would award the Eagles a touchdown if they continued to do so.

It's hard to imagine this latest attempt to ban the Tush Push will gain much traction. For one, there has never been any demonstrable data to suggest it leads to more injuries or is a particular risk to player safety.

But it also isn't universally effective. While the Eagles executive it with almost automatic success, other teams have been less successful in utilizing the strategy. Thus, to eliminate it would be to essentially punish the Eagles for simply being better at it than any other team.

"It's always a topic for conversation: Should this play be banned? But the success we have is not replicated always throughout the entire league," Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni told reporters in early February, ahead of the Super Bowl. "We saw it last week with the game we're studying, Kansas City against Buffalo, [the Chiefs] stopped them in a critical situation. I guess I'm lobbying to never change that rule because we're successful at it, but we're successful at it because of the guys we have up front."