Some football plays are straight-up electric. A last-second Hail Mary? Instant chills. A well-executed flea-flicker? Chef’s kiss. But then there’s the “tush push“—the Eagles’ go-to move that’s got defenders losing sleep. Depending on who you ask, it’s either an unstoppable cheat code or a rugby-style gimmick that needs to be banned. And now, the debate is getting real, with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reportedly not feeling it.
“I heard [Roger] Goodell hates it … I can’t stand the play,” Chris “Mad Dog” Russo ranted, speaking for those who think the tush push is bad for football. The play, where the QB gets shoved forward by teammates for a short-yardage gain, has people divided. Russo’s biggest gripe? It just doesn’t feel like real football. “It’s too much of a rugby play,” he argued, adding that pushing a ball carrier behind the line of scrimmage makes it “rinky dink.” And after Washington’s offside mess in the championship game, things have only gotten more chaotic.
“I heard [Roger] Goodell hates it … I can’t stand the play.” @MadDogUnleashed makes the case to @damienwoody for the NFL to ban the “tush push” pic.twitter.com/zAfqATerKt
— First Take (@FirstTake) February 26, 2025
But Damien Woody? Yeah, he’s not having it. “No, Doug, I’m so disappointed in you,” he shot back, defending the play. His point? If it was that easy, every team would be doing it. But they’re not, because only a few teams—like the Eagles and the Bills—have actually figured it out. “They practice it. They have the personnel and they actually practice it,” Woody emphasized. If defenses can’t stop it, that’s on them. “Oh, we want to eliminate [it] because we can’t stop it? Really?” he said, calling out the league for trying to ban something just because it works too well.
Of course, there’s also the whole injury debate. Bills coach Sean McDermott has raised concerns, and Woody admits there’s some risk since guys are lunging forward with their heads down. “You are a little susceptible to injury,” he acknowledged. But compared to other parts of the game? It’s not even close. “There are far more injuries from, you know, kickoffs and when guys are having collisions from a longer distance,” Woody pointed out. So if the NFL really wants to focus on player safety, maybe they should start there instead of targeting one play.
At the end of the day, this whole debate screams one thing: frustration. Teams can’t stop it, so now they want it gone. But unless the NFL actually bans it, the Eagles will keep running it, defenders will keep struggling, and fans will keep arguing over whether the tush push is brilliant—or if it needs to be pushed out for good.
Nick Sirianni has had it with the tush-push slander
The Eagles head coach isn’t just annoyed by the never-ending drama over the tush push—he’s straight-up offended. “I almost feel a little insulted because we work so hard at that play … and our guys are talented at this play,” he said, basically telling the haters to put some respect on Philly’s name. And honestly, he’s got a point. The Eagles and Bills convert the tush push at an insane 87% clip, while the rest of the league sits at 71%. Maybe that’s why everyone’s so pressed about it—it works too well when the right team runs it.
#Eagles HC Nick Sirianni on the Tush Push being dubbed an automatic play: “I almost feel a little insulted because we work so hard at that play … and our guys are talented at this play.” pic.twitter.com/t6Qtyl9ghH
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 25, 2025
And here’s the thing: even teams that try to copy it can’t always get it right. Just look at the Bills. They ran it 37 times last season, second only to the Eagles, but when they needed it most—in the AFC Championship against the Chiefs—they fumbled the bag. “You see it throughout the league. You see it in the championship games. A team failed at it and lost the game because of it,” Sirianni pointed out. If the play was such a cheat code, wouldn’t it be automatic? Instead, Philly just runs it better than everyone else—39 for 48 last season. Even when they missed, they ran it again, and eight out of nine times, they got it. That’s not a glitch, that’s just being him.
So yeah, Sirianni is big mad. The Eagles built a play, perfected it, and now the league wants to ban it because nobody else can figure it out. The Packers even proposed a rule change to get rid of it, which is just giving major “we can’t beat you, so we’ll change the rules” energy. Even Andy Reid had to chime in on the whole debate, so you already know this isn’t going away anytime soon.
But here’s what really grinds Sirianni’s gears—the double standard. Nobody cared about the tush push when other teams were failing at it. But the second the Eagles mastered it? Now it’s a “problem.” “The fact that it’s a successful play for the Eagles, and they want to take that away is a little unfair,” he said. And honestly? He’s spitting facts.
The post Facing Major Pressure for Tush Push Ban, Roger Goodell’s Stance on the Play Revealed as Nick Sirianni’s Frustration Grows appeared first on EssentiallySports.