The survival of the tush push arrived as a surprise.
And it didn’t come without some last-minute and reportedly lurid wrangling from Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie at Wednesday’s NFL owners meetings in Minneapolis.
Per multiple reports, Lurie held court during a lengthy speech ahead of a vote of owners on a proposal to ban the play that helped propel the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory in February. The pre-vote meeting also featured a plea from Jason Kelce, who was for years the centerpiece of the tush push as Philadelphia’s All-Pro center.
According to ESPN and The Athletic, Lurie spent roughly an hour arguing to fellow owners that the tush push should survive. Per both reports, Lurie took a, ahem, candid approach to making his case.
Lurie told his fellow owners that other teams’ efforts to ban the play that they otherwise overwhelmingly can’t stop was “like a wet dream for a teenage boy.”
That’s one way to put it. And one way to explain why “tempers flared” during the meeting, per ESPN’s account. According to ESPN, Lurie’s “wet dream” analogy drew the ire of NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent, who reportedly chastised Lurie for making the comment in front of women in the room.
It’s worth noting that Vincent was a proponent of the tush-push ban. And Lurie reportedly criticized him and commissioner Roger Goodell for their support of the ban during the meeting.
In his plea, Lurie reportedly shot down arguments that the tush push presents an increased risk of player safety. In fact, he called it “the safest play in the history of the game.”
While that might be an overstatement, there’s no established data to demonstrate that the tush push directly leads to an increased risk of injury — even if the Green Bay Packers made player safety the centerpiece of their proposal to ban it.
The length of Lurie’s plea grew weary for at least one fellow owner. Per ESPN, San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York asked Lurie “how much more s***” he needed to say as the speech crossed the one-hour mark. But ultimately, Lurie’s speech may have proven worthwhile. Nine other teams joined the Eagles in voting to keep the tush push legal, enough to thwart the proposed ban.
Wednesday was expected to be the death knell for the short-yardage play that frequently results in a first-down or touchdown sneak for Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. But the vote to ban it fell two votes short of the 3/4 majority needed to bring its end.
Twenty-two out of 32 NFL teams voted in favor of banning the play, where 24 votes were needed to change the rulebook. And a team that in part just rode the tush push to a Super Bowl championship will push on in the new NFL season. It’s taking a victory lap in the meantime.
