On Wednesday March 19, the Green Bay Packers proposed a rule change banning the infamous “Tush Push.” The Tush Push is a play made famous by Philadelphia center and quarterback duo Jason Kelce and Jalen Hurts, in which Kelce snaps the ball to Hurts, Hurts is pushed over Kelce, either into the endzone or past the first down marker by two people behind him.  

The play is successful in large part due to the leg strength of Jalen Hurts. Many people believed it was also due to Jason Kelce being equally as strong and undersized, but the play works even after his retirement. Since Jalen Hurts is known to be much stronger than most other QBs, the play is very hard for other teams to emulate. While many people believe this is the reason for the rule proposal, the Packers actually cited injuries as the reason for the ban.  

However, in 2024 the NFL did research of its own discovering that there were zero reported injuries on tush push plays. This makes it obvious that the Packers, as well as the other teams complaining about the play, are just frustrated they cannot do it themselves.  

There is a team with no complaints about the play, probably because they have their own version. This team is the Buffalo Bills, who have their own super-athlete under center in Josh Allen. While there are no players behind him to push him forward, Allen is six-foot-five and has an incredible reach in the short yardage situation in which Philadelphia uses their signature play.  

Many fans want to see the play gone as well but for a completely different reason. They are frustrated about Hurts’ overinflated rushing touchdown stats because of this play. Without the play, not only would he become significantly less likely to come up in awards discussions with more deserving players, but his generational running back Saquon Barkley might record some of these touchdowns instead to potentially earn more accolades. 

While talks of banning this play came up in years past, it is very unlikely that it will be enforced. Especially if teams continue to try to bring injury concerns as a reason because the NFL now has legitimate research to show there is no correlation between the two. 

Featured Image via ESPN.com