Eagles Reportedly Calling NFL Teams to Defend Tush Push Against Rule Change Proposal

The Philadelphia Eagles are doing all they can to stave off the efforts to ban the Tush Push, as the controversial play has continued to divide opinion around the NFL.

According to The Athletic's Dianna Russini and Tess DeMeyer, "Ahead of a vote at the NFL owners meetings in Minneapolis this week, the Eagles continue to call around the league to discuss why the play should remain legal, per league sources."

There have been two main arguments against the Tush Push by its detractors.

The first is that some people don't feel it is a "football play," that it doesn't feel within the spirit of the current game, though that is a fairly murky categorization. At different points in the NFL's history, now-entrenched strategies or plays have faced the same scrutiny and endured. But some folks around the NFL believe it is more of a rugby-style play than a football-style play.

The second is that the play represents an injury risk. While there hasn't been any demonstrable data to back this up, the testimonies of players like former center Jason Kelce—who has noted that the play was a grueling one for him to endure during his NFL career—has to be taken into consideration.

It should be noted that Kelce is in favor of the Tush Push remaining legal, however.

"Football is a sport that comes down to physicality, aggression, our will versus your will for a yard—I think that sums up football pretty well to me," he said on The Steam Room in February (h/t Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk). "It's a 92 percent chance. Other teams don't run it at the same success rate. Maybe the Eagles just happen to be really, really good at it. Is it fair to punish a team just because they're better at it than everyone else? I don't think that's fair."

The play's dominance has led to some hilarious attempts to slow it down, including at this year's NFC Championship Game between the Eagles and Washington Commanders:

One of the hidden reasons some teams may be so adamant that the play should be outlawed is that the Eagles have become so good at the Tush Push that short-yardage situations have essentially become guaranteed conversions for them. There is a competitive imbalance at play, though it comes solely from the Eagles having an elite offensive line and a quarterback in Jalen Hurts who has elite lower-body strength. Should the Eagles be punished for those advantages?

It remains an ongoing debate in NFL circles, though there has been momentum to ban the play yet again this offseason, with the Green Bay Packers proposing a rule change. NFL owners tabled a vote last month, an indication that they weren't close to the votes needed (24 of 32 teams) to make the change.