The old adage says if you can’t beat them, join them. But in the case of the Green Bay Packers, if you can’t beat them, take action against them.
The Packers lost twice to the Philadelphia Eagles last season, falling 34-29 to the eventual Super Bowl champions in San Paolo, Brazil in Week 1 and dropping a Wild Card matchup in the NFC Playoffs 22-10.
Losing to any team twice would motivate a team to get better and stronger to take down their opponent, and this offseason should be used to push a Packers team that finished 11-6 over the top. But Green Bay took an interesting approach to stopping the Eagles on Monday, reopening a big storyline over the past couple of seasons.
Packers Submit Proposal to NFL’s Competition Committee to Ban Eagles “Tush Push”
NFL Network insider Judy Battista reported on Monday that an unnamed team made a proposal to the league’s competition committee to ban the “Tush Push” play, that has been mastered by the Eagles. While the team's identity wasn't known at the time of Battista’s report, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini later reported that the Packers made the request.
There is a proposal from an unnamed team to ban the Tush Push, Troy Vincent said. We’ll see where it goes.
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) February 24, 2025
The Green Bay Packers are the team that submitted a proposal to the NFL’s competition committee to ban the tush push, per sources.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) February 24, 2025
The fact the Packers requested the “Tush Push” be outlawed is not shocking. Green Bay lost to the Eagles twice during the 2024 season and it’s been a key play to the Eagles’ success, using a player in the backfield to push Jalen Hurts forward in short-yardage situations.
The play also caught the ire of Packers president Mark Murphy, who griped about the play earlier this month.
"I am not a fan of this play, Murphy said in a monthly Q&A column on the Packers’ team website. There is no skill involved and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less. …I would like to see the league prohibit pushing or aiding a runner [quarterback] on this play. There used to be a rule prohibiting this, but it is no longer enforced because I believe it was throught to be too hard for the officials to see. The play is bad for the game, and we should go back to prohibiting the push of the runner. This would bring back the traditional QB sneak. That worked pretty well for Bart Starr and the Packers in the Ice Bowl."
Murphy also referenced a sequence of plays during the NFC Championship game when Washington Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu jumped over the line of scrimmage twice before the snap in an effort to stop the Eagles from using the play at the one-yard line. Referee Shawn Hochuli threatened to award a touchdown to Philadelphia if Washington did it a third time and Hurts scored on the Tush Push on his third attempt.
The Packers may also be saying what the rest of the league won’t. A report by Russini in Dec. 2023 said that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wanted the Tush Push outlawed last offseason. However, the play remained legal with no formal proposal to the league’s competition committee. CBS Sports’s Jonathan Jones also reported that while the play would remain legal, the NFL would monitor it throughout the 2024 season.
If the proposal goes to a vote, it would take 24 owners to vote in favor of any rule change to be adopted. At that point, we’ll see if the rest of the league feels the same way the Packers do or if it’s just a team with sour grapes after losing to the same opponent twice.