Eagles’ Controversial Tush Push Sparks Outrage—Was the Packers’ Offseason Ban Doomed from the Start?

You can feel the tension crackling through the air in Green Bay this Monday night — all because of one controversial play that’s got the entire NFL buzzing: the infamous tush push. It’s a tactic that carried the Eagles to their Super Bowl glory, a maneuver so effective yet so despised that it’s sparked debates from coast to coast. The Packers, still burning from last season’s playoff heartbreak at Philadelphia’s hands, even tried to put the kibosh on it during the offseason. Yet, despite garnering support from most teams, their proposal didn’t quite make the cut. And here we are, watching it unfold live, complete with questionable false start calls that have fans and pundits alike shaking their heads. It’s a spectacle — frustrating for some, thrilling for others — but one thing’s clear: this play isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, much to the chagrin of the league’s purists. LEARN MORE

The tush push is a point of contention across the NFL, but nowhere more than in Green Bay for Monday’s Eagles-Packers game.

The Eagles rode the largely reviled play in part to their Super Bowl title last season as a virtually unstoppable force in short-yardage and goal-line situations, to the chagrin of much of the NFL.

The Packers — who lost to the Eagles last season’s wild-card round — submitted a proposal in the offseason to ban the play. The proposal got yes votes from 22 out of 32 teams at offseason owners’ meetings, but fell short of the three-fourths majority threshold required to pass it.

Eagles get away with false starts of 1st tush push of night

So the tush push lives on. And it’s grown only more more detested across the league as replays show the Eagles — and other teams that now employ it — repeatedly getting away with obvious false starts.

It took exactly one Eagles drive for the tush push to come up Monday night. And multiple Eagles linemen got away with egregious false starts as Philadelphia converted on third-and-1 for their first first down of the game on a Jalen Hurts sneak.

Replay shows multiple Eagles linemen clearly moving before the snap. But officials didn’t flag the false starts, and Philadelphia was awarded a first down.

Fortunately for the Packers, the first-down pickup did not result in Eagles points. Hurts fumbled in the red zone on the same drive, and the Packers recovered for a turnover.

Officials missed another one

The missed call was part of a rough early trend for Monday’s game officials, who were led by referee Clay Martin. Officials also missed a false start on a traditional quarterback sneak by Jordan Love on Green Bay’s first drive.

Like with the Eagles, that missed call did not result in points as the Packers ultimately punted on that possession.

But tush push or not, officials have to do better in these short-yardage situations.