'Tush push' sides make their cases as NFL owners prepare to vote on controversial Eagles play: 'It's a cheapo play'

The topic of the "tush push" is a divisive one.

The controversial goal-line play made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles and utilized by the Buffalo Bills is back on the agenda at NFL owners meetings this week, where a vote could effectively ban it.

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Both sides are making their cases in anticipation of the vote. Per The Athletic's Dianna Russini, Eagles officials are making calls around the league to make the case that the play should not be banned.

Will NFL owners ban the 'tush push?'

The play has already been on the agenda once and was given a reprieve. Owners opted to table the topic during spring meetings in April following a charged debate. Owners will meet again in Minneapolis starting Wednesday and are expected take up the subject again. Any rule change will require 24 of the 32 NFL owners to vote in support of it.

The "tush push" involves multiple players lining up behind a ball carrier and pushing him forward toward a line of gain in short-yardage situations. The Super Bowl champion Eagles have repeatedly and effectively utilized it for multiple seasons to push quarterback Jalen Hurt over the goal line with opposing defenses nearly helpless to stop it.

The Bills have also adopted the play to take advantage of the size and strength of quarterback Josh Allen near the goal line. They've both done so with great success. Per ESPN research, Philadelphia and Buffalo have utilized the play more than the other 30 teams combined in the last three years to an 87% success rate in terms of converting either a touchdown or a first down.

Is player safety really at stake here?

Some teams — most notably the Green Bay Packers — don't think this is fair. The Packers proposed the rule change that would prohibit "an offensive player from pushing a teammate who was lineup directly behind the snapper and receives the snap, immediately at the snap."

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The cited reason for the proposal? "Player safety; pace of play."

There's no data to support that player safety is further risked by the "tush push," a point that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made in April while simultaneously suggesting — without data — that the "tush push" does offer an increased risk of injury.

“We have very little data from it, but beyond data, there's also the mechanism of injury that we study …that leads us to show the risk involved in a particular play or particular tackle,” Goodell said on April 2. “There are a lot of plays where you see someone pulling or pushing somebody that are not in the tush push formation that I think do have an increased risk of injury.”

'It's a cheapo play'

The real reason appears to simply be that that play is almost impossible to stop. Washington Commanders linebacker Franki Luvu notably demonstrated the difficulty in attempting to stop it in a playoff loss to the Eagles when he drew multiple penalties for jumping early over the line of scrimmage with the Eagles in "tush push" formation.

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Luvu candidly discussed on Monday why "I think they should ban it" during an interview with NFL Network.

“But I know the argument’s going to be about like, hey, you guys have to stop it, Luvu said. "Don’t get us in short yardage, and what not. I mean, it’s kind of like a cheapo play. ...

"It’s pretty much a scrum in rugby. That’s how I kind of look at it. And we’ve got to have a scrum, too, on the other side. An the scrum is, we have a cadence where we all go at once. It’s not like you hard count and this and that, where now you’re getting us — or myself — jumping over the pile thinking that you’re going to snap the ball. That’s just my own personal opinion, and I’m going to leave it at that.”

There weren't enough votes in April to ban the 'tush push.' Will that change this week as owners vote behind closed doors?