Eagles' Lane Johnson Reacts to Packers Reportedly Proposing 'Tush Push' Ban

Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Lane Johnson is amused by the Green Bay Packers.

Or at least the NFC North team's efforts to ban the tush push play if his reaction to a Monday report from Dianna Russini of The Athletic is any indication.

That Green Bay was the team that submitted an official proposal to the NFL's competition committee to ban the play comes as no surprise, as Packers president Mark Murphy made his thoughts on the subject perfectly clear in an online question and answer article earlier this month:

"I am not a fan of this play. There is no skill involved and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less. The series of plays with the Commanders jumping offsides in the NFC Championship Game to try to stop the play was ridiculous. The referee even threatened to give the Eagles an automatic touchdown if the Commanders did not stop it. I would like to see the league prohibit pushing or aiding the runner (QB) on this play. 

"There used to be a rule prohibiting this, but it is no longer enforced because I believe it was thought to be too hard for the officials to see. The play is bad for the game, and we should go back to prohibiting the push of the runner. This would bring back the traditional QB sneak. That worked pretty well for Bart Starr and the Packers in the Ice Bowl."

He referenced Philadelphia's NFC Championship Game win over the Washington Commanders in which the visitors were warned by officials that the Eagles could be given an automatic touchdown if defenders didn't stop jumping offsides so many times at the goal line in an effort to stop the tush push.

While the NFL has yet to ban it and may not do so moving forward either, Russini did report on a January episode of her Scoop City podcast that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell didn't initially like the play.

"[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."

The play was front and center during Philadelphia's run to the Lombardi Trophy.

Whenever the Eagles needed one yard, Jalen Hurts was seemingly unstoppable behind their strong offensive line with Saquon Barkley shoving him forward. That's how the NFC representative scored its first touchdown in the Super Bowl win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

And it doesn't seem like Johnson is too worried about the NFL telling his team that it won't be able to unleash the play in the future.