NFL's Troy Vincent Says Refs Will 'Try to Get Better' On Officiating Eagles' Tush Push

The NFL may still be trying to improve officiating of the tush push popularized by the Philadelphia Eagles eight weeks into the 2025 season.

NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said Tuesday at the league's annual meetings that there "hasn't been much discussion internally" about the tush push (h/t Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer).

"What has been said by officials the last two years, when we've discussed the push play, very difficult to officiate in real time," Vincent said.

Vincent continued, "From an officiating standpoint, we're going to try to get better at identifying when someone's in the neutral zone or when someone leaves a little early."

A proposal to ban the tush push ahead of the 2025 season failed by two votes. The Eagles have continued to rely on the play while climbing atop the NFC East with a 5-2 start to the season.

Vincent added that he felt some errors on the tush push were currently only identifiable by line judges on replay.

"It is really hard for that line judge to identify that, based on where he's at, looking down the line of scrimmage," Vincent said.

Vincent added, "Hey, at the end of the day, there's a team that still does it well."

The Eagles have attempted the tush push more than 100 times from 2022 to 2024, by far the most in the NFL, per ESPN's Stephen Holder.

Philadelphia used the move to score the first touchdown of Super Bowl LIX and has once more leant on the play in 2025, including when using four straight pushes to score against the New York Giants in Week 6.

The second play of that sequence appeared to feature a missed false start call on the Eagles offense.

The NFL has previously addressed a need for improvements in officiating on the tush push, particularly regarding false starts, in multiple communications sent to teams earlier this season.

The Washington Post's Mark Maske previously reported that the NFL sent out memos to officials and all 32 teams identifying a correct offsides call on a tush push attempt by the New Orleans Saints in Week 1, as well as a missed false start call on the Eagles in Week 2.

In the training tape that identified the missed false start made during a third-down tush push in a win over the Chiefs, per Maske, the NFL said the league's goal was to "officiate these plays tight and make sure that every aspect of the offensive team is legal."

Vincent's comments come shortly after the Eagles were flagged for a false start on a third-down tush push attempt late in the first quarter of last Sunday's Week 7 win over the Minnesota Vikings.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported in September that the play might not necessarily come up for a vote ahead of the 2026 season. Former Green Bay Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy proposed last offseason's vote, but has since retired.

Improving officiating of the tush push will be especially important for the NFL if the play ends up sticking around past the 2025 season.