The NFL is set to vote on whether or not the "Tush Push" QB sneak will be banned, or remain part of legal play for the 2025 season. It's a play the Eagles have utilized in a transformative way, and one that has helped them reach the Super Bowl (and win once) in two of the last three seasons.
And the debate seems to be heated. While the argument is lively enough on local talk radio stations, down in Florida at the NFL Owner's Meetings, there appears to be some juice to the debate as well.
Here's a report from ESPN, citing a "heated" back and forth between Howie Roseman and one of his assistants with Sean McDermott and Sean McVay Sunday evening:
Reporters were then able to ask McDermott about his objection to the "Tush Push" early on Monday and it was a bit surprising to hear his point of view, knowing that he uses the play with Josh Allen the second most of any NFL head coach.Another source with direct knowledge of competition committee thinking said the proposal would be "hotly contested" among the coaches, general managers and owners as they gather for league meetings this week.
The league office staff presented the rules proposals during the football operations meeting Sunday afternoon, and two sources in the meeting described the back and forth as "heated" regarding the proposal to "prohibit an offensive player from pushing a teammate who was lined up directly behind the snapper and receives the snap, immediately at the snap."
During the Sunday afternoon session, Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, assistant general manager Jon Ferrari and two head coaches on the competition committee, Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams and Sean McDermott of the Buffalo Bills, gathered in a hallway outside of the ballroom to have a private and animated side conversation about the Packers' proposal. [ESPN]
"It's added force, number one," the coach tried to explain, "and then the posture of the players being asked to execute that type of play thats where my concern comes in."
To be clear, there has been no evidence of injuries related to the execution of the play, as it currently is run by the Bills, Eagles or any other team. But for whatever reason, McDermott repeatedly tried to blame some sort of posture that was dangerous for being the impetus for his opinion.
"A form of it, I think it's a loose term in terms of what defines a Tush Push, so there's different forms of it out there," McDermott said. "I know we are one of the teams people identify that run it, that's fair. There are other teams as well, we're going to always act in a way thats best for the health and safety of the players."
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McDermott was asked a few times, once by PhillyVoice's Jimmy Kempski, what posture or specific part of the play he deemed to be dangerous and no clear answer really emerged, aside from "when one side of the ball takes a certain posture the other side had to adjust to fit the situation.
"The proposal from Green Bay, to me it takes away the force," he said. "Traditional quarterback sneaks have been around for a long time, the pushing of it adds the force piece and that exponentially raises my concern. Again I am, not a doctor that's just what I am going off of."
Concern about what, exactly?
"Being responsible and proactive in that regard is the right way to go," McDermott then said, pivoting to an argument that despite a lack of any evidence to support the play being dangerous, it needs to be eliminated because there possibly could be an injury from it someday.
"That's what I'm tasked to do as a committee member, is to do what's best for the overall game and growing the game the right way," he said, "And, yes, we do a form of this play, we do it well, I believe us and Philadelphia both run a form of this play and do it well, I believe both teams can be just as good in a traditional form of a quarterback sneak and they've shown that... and that's partly why I believe what I believe."
The vote on Tuesday will require the representatives of 24 NFL teams agreeing with the Packers, and McDermott, meaning the Eagles only need eight other teams to join them in supporting the status quo.
And the opposition to the play is getting more and more obvious. Opposing organizations have no problem with the actual "Tush Push," they have a problem with the Eagles having the best offensive line, the best offensive line coach and one of the physically strongest quarterbacks in the entire NFL in Jalen Hurts under center.
It will be very interesting to see the final vote count later this week.
(McDermott interview audio is courtesy of PhillyVoice’s Jimmy Kempski)
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