While the Green Bay Packers want to see the ‘tush push’ banned, the NFL has confirmed there are other rule changes that will be voted on.
The Packers proposed an official rule change that would see the ‘tush push’, used almost exclusively by the Philadelphia Eagles, to be banned after it was announced they wished to alter Rule 12, Section 1 of the NFL’s rule book.
The Eagles have used the play to convert on short-yardage situations plenty across the last three years, with the ‘tush push’ seeing the ball snapped to quarterback Jalen Hurts who is then shoved forward by players behind him with Philadelphia’s monstrous offensive line paving the way.
Green Bay, who faced the Eagles twice last season, once in Brazil and again in the playoffs, wants to ban the play, with their proposal to “prohibit an offensive player from pushing a teammate who was lined up directly behind the snapper and receives the snap, immediately at the snap.”
It remains to be seen whether or not the NFL will ban the play, especially after the league’s executive vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent, revealed in February that internal data shows the ‘tush push’ is not an unsafe play.
However, while the Packers will learn whether or not their proposal will pass on March 30 at the NFL owners annual meeting, there are are other motions that will be voted on too. And they would need to convince 23 teams to join them in banning the play used by the Eagles.
The Detroit Lions have also proposed a change to Rule 8, Section 4, which would “eliminate an automatic first down as a penalty imposed for defensive holding and illegal contact.”
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Currently, the rule for illegal contact and defensive holding is a loss of five yards and an automatic first down.
The Eagles also proposed a rule change of their own, with the defending Super Bowl champions seeking to alter the overtime rules, which are different in the regular season to the postseason.
The Eagles want to “align the postseason and regular season overtime rules by granting both teams an opportunity to possess the ball regardless of the outcome of the first possession, subject to 15-minute overtime period in the regular season.”
Those two proposals by the Lions and Eagles, like the Packers ‘tush push’ proposal, will also be voted on at the owners meeting.
Additionally, the Lions also proposed a bylaw change, one of which would alter the NFL’s postseason playoff seeding. Detroit wants to allow wildcard teams with better records than division champions seeded higher in the playoffs.
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