Eagles Troll Packers, NFL Amid ‘Tush Push’ Ban Ruling

Known for the infamous ’tush push' play, the Philadelphia Eagles had fun with the NFL’s latest ruling on the play after Wednesday’s owners meeting.

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) lines up for the goal line Tush Push play during the NFL championship playoff football game against the Washington Commanders in Philadelphia on Jan. 26, 2025. Chris Szagola/AP Photo

The Philadelphia Eagles made the “tush push” play famous, and NFL owners made another attempt to block its future.

Owners came up two votes short of banning the play during the spring meeting on Wednesday in Eagan, Minnesota. The Green Bay Packers submitted the re-proposal, which received a 22–10 vote on Wednesday when the owners needed 24 to pass it, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Green Bay submitted an original proposal at the April owners meeting in Florida.

With the win, the Eagles trolled the Packers and everyone else in the league with a social media post titled “Push On.” The image featured Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts going for a “tush push” play against the Packers.

Philadelphia and Green Bay opened the 2024 season with a game in Brazil, and the two met again in the playoffs. The Eagles beat the Packers in both games, and the two will meet again in Week 10 of the 2025 season for a Monday Night Football Showdown.

The “tush push” play has become controversial because of its rugby-like style, which deviates from traditional football plays. In the play, two players behind the quarterback give him extra momentum by pushing him forward for an extra yard or two. Traditionally, the ball carrier in football only has the benefit of blockers.

The ban would have nixed offensive players from doing anything besides blocking to physically aid the ball carrier. That said, the play rarely gets used, and the Eagles and Buffalo Bills were two of the few teams to run it.

The “tush push” came in on the scene in 2018 when former Eagles center Jason Kelce and current Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts started executing it. Kelce and Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie spoke to the owners at the meeting about keeping the play. While the play has been billed an Eagles concoction, it didn’t originate in Philadelphia.

Former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr brought up the idea in 2018 before the first Eagles “tush push.” Barr was miked up by NFL Films when he talked about it on the sideline during a regular season game.

“I just think you should put some big dude at quarterback and then another big dude behind him and just push him,” Barr said. “Or two big guys behind him and just have a double push.”

It’s a play that had been on Eagles head coach Nik Sirianni’s radar, too, before he came to Philadelphia. Sirianni did it as an offensive coordinator with the Indianapolis Colts when he had former backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett run it.

Despite its reputation for being unstoppable, the “tush push” can be stopped. The Bills went 2–6 on that play in the AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen is one of the biggest signal callers in the league at 6-foot-5, 237 pounds, but his head coach, Sean McDermott, has safety concerns about the play. McDermott, wh\o serves on the league’s competition committee, wanted the play banned though he let offensive coordinator Joe Brady run it.

“I feel where I’m most concerned is, even though there is not significant data out there to this point, my biggest concern is the health and safety of the players, first and foremost,” McDermott told reporters on April 1. “It’s two things: It’s force, added force, No. 1, and then the posture of the players, being asked to execute that type of play, that’s where my concern comes in.”

McDermott told the reporters his team would run “a form of it” if the play remains legal. Allen expressed his indifference on April 22 at the team’s voluntary workout program, weeks before the NFL owners meeting.

“I think at this point it is what it is,” Allen told reporters. “I don’t know if I have a particular feeling about it. I know that we’ve utilized it. I know that if it wasn’t banned, I think we would find a different play or a different way to still try to get the job done.”

“But I don’t know the statistics behind player safety and all of that. So I really don’t have a say on it, to be honest,” he added.

For now, the controversial play will carry on in the NFL.