Roger Goodell smiling at event (left). Clete Blakeman making a call (right). The NFL may reportedly ban the tush push in 2025.Roger Goodell and Clete Blakeman (Photos by Imagn Images)
NFL fans who want the practically unstoppable tush push play banned might get their wish in the not-so-distant future.

The Philadelphia Eagles have successfully run the tush push play for quarterback Jalen Hurts, a trend that started during the 2022 season. The play, which has been copied by other NFL teams, consists of one or two players “pushing” the quarterback forward during a QB sneak.

If executed correctly (and it’s pretty hard to mess up), the play is borderline unstoppable. In 2022 alone, the Eagles were successful on 92.6 percent of the tush push attempts.

Per Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk, Fox NFL rules analyst and former Vice President of Officiating Mike Pereira believes that the league could look at banning the play after what transpired in the Eagles-Washington Commanders NFC Championship Game:

“I think it will be a conversation…I think with the ugliness of that, they’ll take a further look at it…To think that any play in a game led to what a referee could do, which is actually award a score without a play.

I mean when you get to that — called a ‘palpably unfair act,’ which I’d been waiting for 15 years to say on air. I was so excited. I almost spit it out right away. But I think with the ugliness of that, they’ll take a further look at it. But again, it’s going to evolve around injury data. If there’s been injuries from it, there is a chance that it could get (eliminated).

I think it’ll continue being looked at, (and) maybe at somewhere down the road making a change.”