Eagles Remain Unfazed by Possible “Tush Push” Ban
Philadelphia – With a vote scheduled for Wednesday that could ban the “tush push,” several key Philadelphia Eagles players downplayed the potential ban of this play, which has become a staple of the team’s offense in recent seasons.I have no opinion on the matter. It’s just a yard.
A.J. Brown
Left tackle Jordan Mailata struck a similar tone, saying, “Are they going to ban the push? I guess we’ll do it without the push.”
Regarding them banning the tush push, I hate that name, so I hope they ban it, it’s a stupid name. But I can’t control it, we can’t control it, so we don’t even worry about it. Right now, we’re just installing our schemes, whatever [offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo] is installing that day, that’s what we’re focusing on because worrying about whether they’re going to ban the tush push or not, isn’t going to win us a championship.
Jordan Mailata
NFL owners decided to postpone the vote at the league meeting in April on the Green Bay Packers’ initial proposal to ban the “tush push”, a play in which a team lines up one or more players behind the quarterback to push him forward in short-yardage situations. Since then, the Packers have submitted a revision of their rule proposal that would more broadly prohibit pushing or pulling the ball carrier anywhere on the field.
A vote is expected on Wednesday at the spring meetings in Minneapolis.
We’ll see how that goes. We’re not going to wait long to resolve it. It will be public [on Wednesday]. And you already know what I think about it.
Nick Sirianni
In February, Sirianni called the situation “a little unfair” because some teams are seeking to ban the play because it is very successful for Philadelphia, adding that the idea of it being an automatic play is “a little insulting”.
At the league meetings in April, Eagles CEO Jeffrey Lurie called it a “precision play” that is effective for Philadelphia in part because of its top-tier offensive line and quarterback Jalen Hurts, who can squat 600 pounds.
I never remember a play being banned because one team or a few teams were running it effectively. It’s part of what I think most of us love about football, it’s a chess match. Let the chess match play out. And if for some reason it’s banned, we’ll try to be the best at short-yardage situations. We have a lot of ideas about that.
Jeffrey Lurie
There was little defense of the play during Philadelphia’s media availability on Tuesday. Hurts declined to comment on the matter.
The “tush push” appeared in only 0.28% of total plays last year, but the Eagles and the Buffalo Bills ran the play more often than any other team.
