Just because the fate of the Eagles’ signature tush push was tabled at this week’s league meetings in Palm Beach, Fla., doesn’t mean that several teams haven’t made their feelings on the controversial play known.
The Packers, who proposed to ban Philadelphia’s rendition of the quarterback sneak, received backing from 16 of the NFL’s 32 teams, according to ESPN.
A minimum of 24 votes is needed to pass a proposed alteration to the NFL’s rules.
The matter is expected to be explored again next month at the spring meeting in Minnesota, with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie stating Tuesday the reigning Super Bowl champions have to be prepared “for every result.”
“I don’t ever remember a play being banned because a single team or a few teams were running it effectively. It’s part of what I think most of us love about football is it’s a chess match. Let the chess match play out. And if for any reason it does get banned, we’ll try to be the very best at short-yardage situations. We’ve got a lot of ideas there,” Lurie said.
The play has gained notoriety in recent years, with the Eagles using it to help their short-yardage success on the way to two Super Bowl trips in the past three seasons — including a 40-22 throttling of the Chiefs in February to earn the franchise its second championship.
Opponents of the tush push, including Bills head coach Sean McDermott, have cited safety concerns in their argument despite limited data available.
“It’s ironic that people would bring up health and safety,” Lurie said, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia. “We’re at the top of the game in terms of wanting health and safety on every play. We voted for hip-drop tackle and defenseless receiver. We will always, always support what is safer for the players. It’s a no-brainer.
“If this is proven to be less safe for the players, we will be against the tush push. But until that’s the case, to me, there’d be no reason to ban this play.”
Lurie commended Eagles personnel for their commitment in aiding the execution of the polarizing play at a high level.
“First of all, it’s a precision play. It’s very practiced. We devote a lot of resources to the tush push. We think we have an unusual use of personnel because we have a quarterback [Jalen Hurts] that can squat over 600 pounds and an offensive line that’s filled with All-Pro players,” Lurie said. “That combination with incredible, detailed coaching with Coach [Jeff] Stoutland [the Eagles’ run game coordinator and offensive line coach], has created a play we can be very successful at.”
The spring meetings take place from May 20-21.
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