On Wednesday, the city of Philadelphia felt the stress of not knowing how the 32 NFL owners would vote regarding the Tush Push ban that the Green Bay Packers proposed. While it was close, the Eagles got what they needed as a vote of 22-10 in favor of the proposal, but not enough for it to pass.
Details of how the battle was won have been slowly coming out, but Kelce and Lurie's speeches to the group helped save the play. The only accounts shared were by reporters, but now fans get to hear more from Kelce himself.
Kelce's retelling of the events that led up to the Tush Push ban vote
While appearing on SportRadio 94WIP in Philadelphia, Kelce recalled Lurie's speech and how the two men planned out their attack on the haters of the Tush Push.
"He went very strong. Stronger than what we talked about. The day of we met for breakfast and kind of had a plan of what we were going to do, the order of how we were going to say things. I knew it was even more passion in the room and I think that you try to not to take a lot of this stuff like it is an attack on you and personal and things. The reality is a lot of this proposal was there because of the Tush Push and because of the success that the Philadelphia Eagles had and it feels a little bit like that it's an attack on your organization and what you guys are doing well. I don't think that necessarily the meaning behind it, but certainly I think Jeffrey voiced some opinions and was very passionate about everything and he definitely made his point well known for sure."
Kelce was asked a follow-up question about the central theme of Lurie's speech. While Kelce didn't go into too much detail, he did share that Lurie was focused on the safety of the play.
"I don't want to go too much into what was said, but Jeffrey's main thing was to really talk about the safety issues of the play and one of the reasons that he thinks it's not a concern with this play in particular and why it might be more safe than potentially other plays. I think that was probably the main thing directly associated with the play itself."
No data shows that any players have been injured from the play. It was alleged that owners and coaches talked about how Kelce retired because of the Tush Push play and how it banged up his body. Kelce was invited to the owners' meeting and debunked those claims.
Kelce is an expert on the play as he was the one who mastered the art of the play that started in 2022. He ran it through the 2023 season before he called it a career.
The data shows that the Eagles have successfully converted the play, with 39 of 48 attempts at the Tush Push last year being successful for a first down or touchdown, according to USA Today. Kelce's successor, Cam Jurgens, has kept the tradition going at center as he has been able to master it as well.
Philadelphia gets another season of enjoying seeing Jalen Hurts run behind Jurgens with the Tush Push, thanks to Lurie and Kelce.
