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A year after the Detroit Lions helped defeat a ban on the tush push, opposition to the heavily-scrutinized quarterback sneak play seems to have lost its legs.
When NFL executives gather in Phoenix for their annual spring meetings starting Sunday, March 29, the tush push won't be on the agenda of proposed rules changes.
Atlanta Falcons CEO Rich McKay, co-chairman of the league's competition committee, said in a video conference Wednesday the success rate of the traditional quarterback sneak surpassed the success rate of the tush push last season and "there’s less talk about" the tush push now "within the football community."
"There was no proposal on the table to put anything in this year to deal with that," McKay said. "There’s a position in there we take about open field and pushing and pulling that’s in there, just about the whistle and making sure that we’re as consistent as we can be in that moment, but not directed to the tush push."
Last year, NFL owners fell two votes short of banning the tush push, with the Lions among the teams that objected to the rule change. Twenty-two teams voted in favor of the proposal, which needed 24 votes to pass.
MORE: How Detroit Lions' biggest needs match up with 2026 NFL draft
The Philadelphia Eagles popularized the play, converting quarterback sneaks of third- or fourth-and-1 at a rate of more than 90% in the 2022-24 seasons. The Lions stopped the Eagles on three of four tush-push plays in their loss to Philadelphia last November, and league-wide the conversion rate on the play last season fell to 76.8%, according to Front Office Sports.
Though no team proposed a ban on the play this spring – the Green Bay Packers did, at the behest of the league last year – McKay said that doesn't mean it's totally dead.
"I don’t know that it’s the end of the debate because I think there’s still people that are concerned with the whole pushing element," he said. "But I would say to you that just like last year I told you there was no competition committee proposal last year on the tush push, there was no proposal the year before on that. And over the years we’ve now seen that the ... number of plays it’s being used is going down."
This year, owners will vote on five playing rules proposals and three bylaw proposals, all proposed by the competition committee. Two team-submitted resolution proposals also are on the agenda, to allow the trading of draft picks five years in the future (currently, picks can only be traded three years out) and to permanently allow teams one video or phone call with up to five players during the free agent negotiating window.
Three of the rules changes relate to the dynamic kickoff – allowing teams to declare onside kicks at any point in the game, eliminating the kicking team's incentive to kick the ball out of bounds when kicking off from the 50-yard line, and allowing a 5-4-2 alignment on kickoff returns – and two center around officiating.
If the proposals pass, league personnel would be able to consult with on-field officials in disqualification situations, and the league would allow the NFL officiating department to correct "clear and obvious" missed calls by on-field officials "that impact the game" in the event of an officials work stoppage.
The NFL and its referees association are currently negotiating a new contract.
McKay said the temporary replay assist rule is a contingency plan for replacement officials only.
"We want to get to a deal with the officials, we’ve said that repeatedly," NFL executive vice president for health and safety Jeff Miller said. "We want the best officials on field and we want greater accountability and we want greater performance and that’s what we’re going to continue to drive towards."
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tush push not on agenda at NFL meetings, concern about play remains
Continue reading...
When NFL executives gather in Phoenix for their annual spring meetings starting Sunday, March 29, the tush push won't be on the agenda of proposed rules changes.
Atlanta Falcons CEO Rich McKay, co-chairman of the league's competition committee, said in a video conference Wednesday the success rate of the traditional quarterback sneak surpassed the success rate of the tush push last season and "there’s less talk about" the tush push now "within the football community."
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"There was no proposal on the table to put anything in this year to deal with that," McKay said. "There’s a position in there we take about open field and pushing and pulling that’s in there, just about the whistle and making sure that we’re as consistent as we can be in that moment, but not directed to the tush push."
Last year, NFL owners fell two votes short of banning the tush push, with the Lions among the teams that objected to the rule change. Twenty-two teams voted in favor of the proposal, which needed 24 votes to pass.
MORE: How Detroit Lions' biggest needs match up with 2026 NFL draft
The Philadelphia Eagles popularized the play, converting quarterback sneaks of third- or fourth-and-1 at a rate of more than 90% in the 2022-24 seasons. The Lions stopped the Eagles on three of four tush-push plays in their loss to Philadelphia last November, and league-wide the conversion rate on the play last season fell to 76.8%, according to Front Office Sports.
Though no team proposed a ban on the play this spring – the Green Bay Packers did, at the behest of the league last year – McKay said that doesn't mean it's totally dead.
"I don’t know that it’s the end of the debate because I think there’s still people that are concerned with the whole pushing element," he said. "But I would say to you that just like last year I told you there was no competition committee proposal last year on the tush push, there was no proposal the year before on that. And over the years we’ve now seen that the ... number of plays it’s being used is going down."
This year, owners will vote on five playing rules proposals and three bylaw proposals, all proposed by the competition committee. Two team-submitted resolution proposals also are on the agenda, to allow the trading of draft picks five years in the future (currently, picks can only be traded three years out) and to permanently allow teams one video or phone call with up to five players during the free agent negotiating window.
Three of the rules changes relate to the dynamic kickoff – allowing teams to declare onside kicks at any point in the game, eliminating the kicking team's incentive to kick the ball out of bounds when kicking off from the 50-yard line, and allowing a 5-4-2 alignment on kickoff returns – and two center around officiating.
If the proposals pass, league personnel would be able to consult with on-field officials in disqualification situations, and the league would allow the NFL officiating department to correct "clear and obvious" missed calls by on-field officials "that impact the game" in the event of an officials work stoppage.
The NFL and its referees association are currently negotiating a new contract.
McKay said the temporary replay assist rule is a contingency plan for replacement officials only.
"We want to get to a deal with the officials, we’ve said that repeatedly," NFL executive vice president for health and safety Jeff Miller said. "We want the best officials on field and we want greater accountability and we want greater performance and that’s what we’re going to continue to drive towards."
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tush push not on agenda at NFL meetings, concern about play remains
Continue reading...
