Packers Shake Up Game Rules: Could Their Controversial Push Ban Change Football Forever?

Here we go again—the Green Bay Packers are back at it, stirring the pot over the infamous “tush push.” Just ahead of the Tuesday ownership huddle, they’ve tossed a fresh proposal into the mix, aiming to rewind the clock all the way to 2005, a time when pushing and pulling a ball carrier was strictly off-limits. Now, this isn’t just about disagreeing with a quirky little play. Nope, it’s tackling the very loophole that the Philadelphia Eagles have exploited like pros for over a decade and a half. The Packers’ new pitch sweeps broadly—putting a stop to all pushing, not just the signature sneaky shove some know all too well. Whether you see it as a tactical crackdown or a thinly veiled jab at Philly’s secret sauce, the wheels are definitely turning. The league votes hang in the balance, safety and game flow are trotted out as reasons, but the heart of this drama? Innovation versus tradition, and the politics behind what the game “should” look like. What’s next on the chopping block if this passes? Stay tuned, because this saga is far from over. LEARN MORE

The move addresses the root cause of the tush push. Some 16 years after the league allowed pushing in part because the officials never throw a flag when it happens, the Eagles seized on the loophole and engineered it into their playbook.But, hey, the powers-that-be (possibly starting with the guys whose autograph is on every football) don’t like the tush push. It doesn’t look like football. It poses a safety risk, despite all evidence to the contrary. So it will be gone.It will create a horrible precedent. The league is coming up with phony reasons for banning a play that someone doesn’t like.The proposal requires 24 votes. The league reportedly was split, 16-16, on the Packers’ flawed proposal that prohibited immediate pushing of the player who receives the snap. If that had passed, it would have invited confusion and inconsistency among crews, along with a fresh avenue for claiming the fix is in if/when a subjective decision that a push was “immediate” turns a key touchdown or first down into a 10-yard penalty.By making a general attack on all pushing of the runner, it no longer seems to be a direct assault on the Eagles’ signature play. Even though anyone with a functioning brain knows that’s what’s happening.

The lesson to all teams is simple. Keep on innovating. But beware. If you come up with something so good that it can’t be copied, they’ll find a way to stop you from doing it.The given reason for the proposal is player safety and pace of play. There is no data to prove that pushing the runner will create a safety issue — and no one has ever suggested that the tush push impacts the “pace of play” (except when a defense pinned against its goal line decides to keep jumping offside in the hopes of perfectly timing the move in order to stop the play).The Packers have officially renewed their assault on the tush push.In advance of Tuesday’s ownership meeting, the Packers have submitted a revised proposal that turns the clock back to 2005, when both pulling and pushing of the ball carrier was prohibited.And it raises an obvious question: What’s next?Here’s what will happen if this passes. First, although there may be an early effort to police downfield pushing early in the 2025 season at the direction of 345 Park Avenue, officials will go back to not calling a foul for assisting the runner. (It last happened in the 1991 playoffs, with a flag thrown against Tim Grunhard in a game between the Chiefs and Bills.) Second, the Eagles will still run a largely unstoppable quarterback sneak without the pushing of the tush.