Yo Eagles fans: No Hard Feelings About that Tush Push Proposal, Right?

by | Mar 3, 2025 | NFL | 32 comments

Dear Eagles Fans:

First of all, congrats on your Super Bowl victory. Speaking as a part-owner of the Green Bay Packers, I commend your team. I mean, two Vince Lombardi Trophies. Imagine that.

Along the way, your team fended off mine in much the same way that your tight end, Dallas Goedert, fended off a luckless cornerback named Carrington Valentine en route to a touchdown. Which is to say that the final score of that playoff game – 22-10 – only hinted at the gap between the two teams.

But what I really wanted to do was address the 1,676-pound offensive line in the room – the fact that in recent weeks my team proposed that the NFL ban the Tush Push. Ya know, the play on which Birds quarterback Jalen Hurts lines up behind the behemoths on that line and with the help of two pushy teammates behind him burrows ahead on short-yardage plays – usually with great success. The Birds have attempted 108 TPs since 2022, and converted 87 percent of them into first downs or touchdowns.

So bully for your guys. And no hard feelings about my team’s proposal, right?

Right?

No reason to get all Ryan Caldwell about it. No reason to dredge this up before the teams meet next season in America’s playland, Green Bay, Wisc. Or, for that matter, if they again square off in the postseason at some point in the near future, as seems likely, given the youth and talent on both rosters.

Understand that it was the front office that made this call, OK? I had no say. Neither did the other 500,000-plus others who own stock in the NFL’s only publicly owned team. (And certainly the periodic sales of these shares, which do not appreciate in value, are not evidence of a blatant cash grab on the part of the Packers, who represent all that is right and good in American sport.)

Listen – had general manager Brian Gutekunst consulted me, I would have told him it is a fine play, and never mind that pushing a ballcarrier was illegal until 2005. In fact, I would have said that the Eagles should take the play to the Next Level. Maybe sign Simone Biles and have her vault off Jordan Mailata’s backside, past the line to gain. Or sign the skinniest math nerd at Bala Cynwyd Middle School and have Hurts spiral him downfield, like a javelin.

Naturally, the Packers’ proposal generated all sorts of conversation, particularly since so many league officials gathered this past week in Indianapolis for the annual Scouting Combine. The Harbaugh brothers – John, coach of the Ravens, and Jim, coach of the Chargers – came out against the ban. Buffalo coach Sean McDermott and Atlanta coach Raheem Morris came out in favor of it.

The Fourth Estate also weighed in, with Ray Fittiapaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette backing former Steelers coach Bill Cowher, who told radio host Dan Patrick that the Tush Push is “not a football play” but rather a rugby scrum. Philadelphia Inquirer sports columnist Mike Sielski countered by arguing that the play “isn’t cheating, isn’t unethical, isn’t anything but a new wrinkle in an old game.”

And, he added:

It’s Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell rising above the rim. It’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar unleashing his skyhook. It’s Bruce Sutter splitting his fingers to throw his fastball. (Packers outgoing president Mark) Murphy, Morris, and the other members of their crybaby chorus are all singing from the same sorry songbook: If you can’t beat ‘em, bleat at ‘em. The best thing for the NFL to do is ignore their voices.

(Full disclosure: Mike is a friend and respected colleague.)

Murphy, once a standout safety for Washington, had told the Packers’ website in early February that he is “not a fan of this play” and that it is “bad for the game.”

Gutekunst cited the injury risk of Tush Pushes, as did McDermott. But the NFL reported that no injuries occurred on TPs in 2024. 

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni told reporters he was “insulted” by any talk of doing away with the play, saying that a lot of time and effort has gone into its execution.

“Our guys are talented at this play,” Sirianni said. “It’s a little insulting to say ‘We’re good at it so it’s automatic.’ We work really hard at it.”

That kind of misses the point. Nobody doubts the Eagles have honed the play, that they’re better at it than everybody else. That includes the Packers, whose knock-off Tush Push involves tight end Tucker Kraft taking the snap on certain short-yardage plays.

But no big deal. Let’s let bygones be bygones. Let’s just move on to other things. I mean, how ‘bout those Phillies? Or those Six … er, Phillies.

We’ll see you in the fall. By then, presumably, Carrington Valentine will have been disinterred from beneath the turf in the Linc. By then this will all be water under the bridge.

No reason to get bent outta shape. No reason to punch a police horse or something. Let’s all just get on with our lives.

Appreciate your understanding.

 

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