For now, the “Tush Push” is here to stay in the NFL after an increase league-wide in the controversial short-yardage play being called during the 2025 season. NFL competition committee co-chairman Rich McKay reported over the weekend he doesn’t expect a ban on the play ahead of the 2026 campaign, this coming almost a year after the Green Bay Packers proposed a rule change prohibiting the play only to be rejected.
“There’s no team proposal that I’ve seen from it,” McKay reported Sunday from the NFL combine, via ESPN. “So, I wouldn’t envision it. But you never know.”
Controversy over the “Tush Push” surfaced again late in the 2025 season after Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts appeared to fumble during a 38-20 win over the New York Giants. The play was reviewed and officials ruled Hurts’ forward progress was stopped prior to coughing it up.
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After that result, CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones reported it was time to end the play primarily for two reasons — it has caused injuries during the scrum and false starts were being often missed amidst the melee at the snap.
Designed to move the chains for a quick first down or score a touchdown in a goal-to-go situation from inside the 5, the “Tush Push” is an offensive staple for the Eagles and Buffalo Bills, who utilized the play considerably more than other teams last season. Quarterbacks — or in some cases, whoever takes the snap — are pushed forward by teammates amidst a pile of bodies at the line of scrimmage to interfere with a defense’s hold in the trenches.
The Packers’ ban proposal last offseason of the rugby-esque play fell short of the required 24 votes in May by a tally of 22-10 at league meetings. Green Bay’s initial proposal was quarterback-driven, but its amendment included all ballcarriers, including tight ends or H-backs taking the handoff.
“I think the best way to stop it is to not allow it to happen,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur reported last season. “You can’t allow them in those short-yardage situations because you know exactly what they’re going to do. And they’ve been pretty successful at it, obviously.”
LaFleur’s offense tinkered with the play in 2023 before deciding it shouldn’t be a part of Green Bay’s playbook.
“Every team’s built a little bit differently, and, for me, it’s always, ‘Do you want your quarterback subject to some of those hits that he could potentially face in those situations?'” LaFleur reported.
At last year’s NFL combine, Eagles coach Nick Sirriani reported it would be “unfair” to his team if the league banned the “Tush Push” coming off a Super Bowl title.
“I’ve seen some of the stuff that it’s an automatic play or that it’s not,” Sirriani reported. “We work really, really [hard]. I almost feel a little insulted because we work so hard at that play. The amount of things that we’ve looked into how to coach that play, the fundamentals. There’s a thousand plays out there, but it comes down to how you teach the fundamentals and how the players go through and do the fundamentals. I can’t tell you how many times we practiced the snap. We practice the play because it’s not a play that’s easy to practice, so there’s different ways we figured out how to practice it.”
At this point, it seems those around the league are tired of the play, but not enough for another proposal and vote to ban it.
