NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s Power Play Backfired in spectacular fashion today as the League used the Packers to Push Tush-Push Ban and they got beat because when you come off as cowardly and calculating the results usually speak for themselves. The league of extraordinary hypo-critters left Minnesota today with some bumps and bruises after their attempt at the banning of the Philadelphia Eagles’ signature short yardage vintage play got brotherly shoved right up the NFL’s Commiss’ tush.
What made it even better was that the NFL didn’t just want to ban the Eagles’ signature “tush push” — they wanted someone else to take the heat for it. Make no mistake about it: this wasn’t Green Bay’s war. This was the league office hiding behind a historic franchise to wage a quiet battle against Philadelphia’s physical brand of football.
The vote was a photo finish ending with 22-10 in favor of the ban. But with 24 needed for approval, it failed. Again. And this time, the Eagles didn’t just defend the play, they exposed how orchestrated the attack truly was.
According to league sources, the push to kill the play reached as high as the Commissioner’s office. But instead of submitting the rule change directly, a move that would have spotlighted the league’s own agenda — they had the Packers draft and file it. Why? So the league could control the optics. So they could frame this as a “team-driven” proposal, not a top-down decree from Park Avenue.
It was a weak move and Philly smelled it from a mile away and culminated with a heated debate over the tush push between NFL owners and league executives Wednesday morning during the league meeting in Eagan, Minnesota, multiple sources with firsthand knowledge told ESPN.
The discussion occurred during of what is called a “general session,” which is attended by owners and team and league officials.
Birds’ Heavies Divide and Conquer
Eagles’ owner Jeffrey Lurie made an impassioned speech in defense of the play. The Eagles and the NFL declined comment, but sources close to Lurie told ESPN that he had seen reports from earlier in the day that the tush push was going to be banned, and so he figured the odds of the play’s survival were long.
Toward the end of a speech that lasted close to an hour, Lurie made an analogy, telling the room that regardless of whether the play was banned, it was a “win-win” for the Eagles, adding that it was “like a wet dream for a teenage boy” to create a play that was so successful that the only way for it to be stopped was for it to be banned.”
After Lurie finished speaking, executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent, who I’ve witnessed act a fool before in his own right behind closed doors, chastised the Eagles’ owner for the “wet dream” comment, specifically for saying it in front of women in the meeting. Spoken like the true crusader for women’s right’s and chivalry that he is.
Lurie spoke for several more minutes, adding that whoever voted to ban the play would be taking liability for putting quarterbacks at risk. He criticized NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Vincent for advocating the ban, adding that he had spoken to NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills at length about the play.
While this was going on in one room, Eagles assistant general manager John Ferrari and former Eagles star center Jason Kelce, currently an ESPN analyst, addressed the room next. Kelce said that he would return to the NFL if he could run 60 tush pushes a game.
Multiple league sources told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that Eagles officials walked out of the room “not knowing what to expect” and figured voting could go either way.
The Eagles set out Wednesday to address the notion that the tush push led to injury, with one source telling Fowler that “there was no data” to suggest the play was unsafe.
One of Kelce’s talking points was to dispel the rumor that he retired because of the tush push, sources told Fowler. Pittsburgh Steelers’ president Art Rooney II said Kelce’s perspective was that the tush push “is a safe play, not something we need to worry about that much.”
Rooney also said Kelce may have swayed teams that were undecided on their vote, adding that more teams could embrace the tush push during their offseason practices, now that the play is not going away, even though the Steelers’ owner ultimately voted for banning the play.
Perspectives on Kelce’s impact on the voting varied, however, as one source told ESPN’s Brooke Pryor that the former Eagles center’s speech was “generic.” Other sources described a “spirited” conversation sparked by Kelce.
When Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones pointed out potential issues with the play, Kelce said he understood where the Cowboys owner was coming from and agreed on some of the points. Multiple sources noted to Pryor that it was refreshing to hear about a rule and its impact from a player’s perspective, and it could lead to more players weighing in on significant potential rule changes.
“Any play that’s out of the ordinary gets extra scrutiny because of the competition,” Jones told Fowler. “That’s the fun part of having these meetings, and here we are — the world champion is the main focus of the tush push, and here we are debating it and having to decide, ‘Am I really against the tush push or do I just want Philadelphia to [not] have an edge?’ And I sit there and fight that, too.”
That’s How You Do It
So the Champs repeated in their quest to not have their signature play relegated to just a trivia question, at least for now, by pulling out their heavy artillery – their words, which isn’t usually how such a physical sport is won, but sometimes flamethrowers have that off-speed pitch in their repertoire for just such occasions.
For Jeffrey Lurie and Jason Kelce, two legends in midnight green, who tag-teamed a 30-60 minute meeting with owners just before the vote. their impassioned pleas were their fast balls. The argument was simple: if you ban the play, you’re not protecting quarterbacks – you’re penalizing success.
Kelce, who anchored the play better than anyone in the modern era, dismantled the notion that the tush push was unsafe. “It sucks for the center,” he admitted. “But it’s football. It’s power vs. power. You want to stop it? Line up and do it.”
The Eagles’ leadership team turned the tide. And in doing so, they pulled the curtain back on the league’s tactics.
Let’s be clear: the NFL didn’t want to debate this play on the merits. They wanted to manipulate the conversation behind closed doors. They quietly backed a reworded proposal that would have banned any “assistance” to the runner, not just the infamous quarterback shove, thus, making it appear more neutral. But the timing, the silence from the league, and the urgency all screamed one thing – they wanted this banned without blood on their hands.
They didn’t get it.
Instead, they got outmaneuvered by the very team they tried to target. And the optics couldn’t be worse: the NFL championed “player safety” while letting a Hall of Famer explain why the play isn’t dangerous. They championed “competitive balance” while trying to erase a play only one team has mastered.
Philly didn’t just win the vote. They won the narrative.
So what happens now? Probably the same thing that happens every offseason. The play will get revisited. Repackaged. Renamed. But it’ll come back. Because the NFL doesn’t like being embarrassed by something they can’t control.
This time, they pushed the wrong team.
