The Green Bay Packers tried and failed to ban the Philadelphia Eagles signature short-yardage play, the tush push, via a new NFL rule. In order for that rule to pass, however, over 24 votes had to go Green Bay's way. Sadly for Packers fans that wasn't the case, and the tush push is here to stay for now.
The controversy behind the tush push is that it provides an unfair advantage to the offense, especially in short yardage and goal-to-go situations. For example, the Eagles can snap the ball to Jalen Hurts, who will then receive a push from his teammates as they gather momentum and run into his back, essentially carrying him into the end zone or for a first down. It's not rocket science, and honestly fairly susprising no team tried this maneuver earlier. However, we can't argue with the results, as the Eagles have a success rate of over 80 percent via the tush push. Other teams have tried to replicate the play with varying degrees of success.
The Eagles fought long and hard to defeat the Packers on and off the field this season. Ironically, it came via the same scoreline.
Packers fans learned the hard way not to mess with the tush push
The Eagles defeated the Packers by a 22-10 scoreline in the NFC Wild Card round just last season. It was that game, along with their overall dissent to the play itself, which propelled the Packers to suggesting a rule change in the first place. That is a mistake they will have to think twice about before making again, because the Eagles secured one of the best troll jobs of all time.
The final vote of the tush push ban was also...22-10 against the Packers proposal. Ouch.
There were many, many more where those came from. Green Bay was one of 10 teams to vote for the proposal, so they were not alone. The best solution at this point is to find a way to stop it. The Packers and Eagles face off again this season – this time in Week 10 on Monday Night Football. Both teams now have a little extra motivation for that matchup.
Philadelphia received a little extra push on Wednesday thanks to legend Jason Kelce, who lobbied against the Packers proposal and likely put them over the top.