During an intense owners meeting over the fate of the Philadelphia Eagles’ highly successful tush push play, owner Jeffrey Lurie criticized NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell who was in the same room.
While delivering an impassioned plea against banning the tush push, Lurie took exception to Goodell — and executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent — for advocating to sideline the play permanently, according to ESPN’s Seth Wickersham.
“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,” Wickersham reports.
Lurie even made a provocative analogy during the meeting about owners potentially banning the play simply because of the Eagles’ success.
“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,” notes Wickersham.
The tush push ban proposal came from the Green Bay Packers, who revised the language after it was previously tabled during the April owners meeting. However, with 24 votes needed from the 32 owners to pass, the measure fell short, 22-10.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reports the league office asked the Packers to propose the failed ban. Goodell had previously addressed the tush push during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” in April.
“A lot of coaches would tell you that’s not part of football, right. It may be rugby but it’s not us,” Goodell said at the time.
“The second thing is really the safety of the game. And that’s of primary importance to us. Is it a play that’s unsafe when you’re in those positions where you’re getting pushed or pulled and you can’t control where you’re going. Those are the two factors. On the other side, there’s a legitimate argument that everyone can do it, and you know, if somebody does it better than the others, that’s the way the game is played.”
Former Eagles center Jason Kelce also spoke at the meeting to defend the play.
After the vote, Goodell claimed he wasn’t against the tush push.
The Eagles have scored 27 touchdowns and recorded 92 first downs on the tush push over the last three seasons with Jalen Hurts under center, according to ESPN. During last year’s Super Bowl run, the play accounted for 11 scores and 32 first downs.
The tush push represented just 0.28% of total NFL plays in 2024.
