As with every year, the NFL owners are set to meet to vote on a series of rules and guidelines that will be enforced for the following season. This year, one rule will set to ban one of the most infamous offensive plays in the league.
With this week’s meeting in Minneapolis, the owners could effectively vote to kill the quarterback sneak run by the Philadelphia Eagles which has been coined ‘the Tush Push’.
Essentially a rugby scrum, the ‘Tush Push’ typically involved Eagles QB Jalen Hurts taking the snap and then barging forward with running backs and offensive linemen pushing behind him to gain a few yards.
Sometimes it gives the Eagles a first down. Sometimes they use it to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl or the NFC Championship game. Nearly every time, it’s virtually impossible to stop.
That’s why the other owners hate it. Rather than adapt to the Eagles’ idea and run the play themselves, there’s a growing sense that the league should prevent the play from being instituted again.
The likely mechanism for this is the NFL re-instituting the ban on pushing and pulling on ball carriers.
NFL owners are set to vote on a rule change which would ban the Eagles’ ‘Tush Push’ play
The Eagles ran this play in Super Bowl LIX, which they won over the Chiefs in dominant fashion
The pseudo rugby scrum has been an instrumental play for Philadelphia over the years
A rule had been instituted in the league up until 2004 that prohibited such actions. It was taken away when officials said it was hard for them to determine if a player was being pushed or pulled forward.
Opponents of the play have raised issues about injuries a quarterback or linemen could face to their head, necks, and shoulders. However, NFL competition committee chair Rich McKay said (via The Athletic) that there’s little to no injury data to say if this play is more dangerous than the traditional quarterback sneak.
Another notable rule that could be implemented was proposed by the Detroit Lions: a shakeup of the playoff structure.
Under the current system, the No. 1 seed gets an automatic bye to the Divisional round of the playoffs and plays the winner of the 4v5 game. Then, the winners of the 2v7 and the 3v6 game face off on the opposite side of the bracket.
What the Lions propose is that the Divisional round should be re-seeded based on team record.
The current system sees the top four seeds determined as the division champions in order of record. In the NFC last year, that meant the Lions were the one-seed at 15-2, the Eagles were the two seed at 14-3, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Rams were the three and four seeds respectively with records of 10-7.
However, that produces anomalies where teams with better records end up being seeded lower.
Such was the case last year when the six-seed Washington Commanders – who went 12-5 in the regular season – ‘upset’ the Buccaneers and faced the Lions in the divisional round of the playoffs, beating them in Detroit.
Under the proposal from the Lions, they would have ended up playing a weaker Rams team instead. But, under the current rules, the Rams matched up with the Eagles by virtue of the seeding.
The Lions’ proposal to re-seed the playoffs before the divisional round is also on the table
Last year, the Lions played the six-seed Commanders and lost to them. Meanwhile, the two-seed Eagles played the four-seed Rams – who had a worse record than Washington.
Another proposal will determine if NFL players are allowed to compete in the Olympics in 2028
Another of the key proposals set to be discussed at this week’s meeting is allowing NFL players to participate in the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
The LA Games in 2028 are set to be the first ever to feature American football as an event. Rather than full-contact, participants will play flag football.
There is no agreement in place to allow NFL stars to take the field for the Olympics, so, the owners will be voting on it.
The proposal allows any NFL player under contract to try out for a flag football team.
However, the rule would only allow one player from each NFL team to take part in the games for each nation. For example, the Cincinnati Bengals could not send both Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase to play for the United States, but one of them could be picked for Team USA while Bengals teammate Chase Brown plays for Canada.
Additionally, the NFL is requiring Olympic teams to meet minimum standards for medical staff and field surfaces that hit league minimums.
