INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Green Bay Packers are proposing an end to the tush push play the Philadelphia Eagles have used so successfully at the goal line and in short-yardage situations, including during their victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 59.
Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst confirmed Tuesday the Packers had submitted a proposal to ban the play, a modified quarterback sneak where two teammates behind Jalen Hurts push him forward to help him try to gain the yardage necessary for a first down or touchdown.
“Yeah, I’m aware of it,” Gutekunst said during his session with reporters at the NFL scouting combine. “We really haven’t had very many discussions about it. I’m sure we will over the next few weeks as we head into the owner’s meetings. So I’m aware that we did, but really haven’t had many discussions about it.”
According to NFL Network and the Washington Post, league executive Troy Vincent said Monday that a team submitted a proposal to ban the play. Although Vincent didn't identify the team, The Athletic first reported that it was the Packers.
NFL owners could vote on the proposal when they meet next month in Florida.
The tush push has become synonymous with the Eagles. Perhaps no example summed up how much the play can be a challenge for Eagles opponents quite like when Philadelphia used it against Washington in the NFC championship game. The Commanders jumped offside four times in a sequence of five plays while trying to stop the tush push — earning them a warning from the referee that he could award the Eagles a touchdown if the Commanders did it again.
“I know we’re not very successful against it,” Gutekunst said. “I know that. But to be honest, I have not put much thought into it. It’s been around for a while. We’ve used it in different fashions with our tight end, so, again, I think there will be a lot of discussions about it. I’ve kind of got to look at the, some of the information as far as injury rates, things like that to see. But we’ll see.”
Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy called the tush push "bad for the game" in a message posted on the team's website after the Packers were eliminated by the Eagles in the playoffs.
“There is no skill involved and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less,” Murphy wrote. “I would like to see the league prohibit pushing or aiding the run.”
Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris said Tuesday he wouldn't mind seeing it go away.
“I’ve never been a fan," Morris said. "Never understood why it was allowed. I definitely will be one of the guys voting against it.”
But Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles, who is on the NFL Competition Committee, said he doesn't believe the tush push should be banned. Bowles said teams have to learn how to stop it rather than having the league take it out of the game.
Bills coach Sean McDermott, a member of the competition committee, on Monday mentioned player safety concerns — even though Buffalo has used a version of the play.
“The way that the techniques that are used with the play, to me, have been potentially contrary to the health and safety of the players,” McDermott said at the NFL scouting combine. “You have to go back through, in fairness, to the injury data on the play, but I just think the optics of it I’m not in love with.”
McDermott didn’t say whether he favored a rule change. Although the Bills were mostly successful when they used the tush push in short-yardage situations last season, quarterback Josh Allen was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter of a 32-29 loss to Kansas City in the AFC championship game.
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The Associated Press
