On the field, the Tush Push in the NFL is something of a modern twist on the ancient paradox of an immovable object versus an unstoppable force. The continuation of the Tush Push itself across the league is taking on a similar dynamic.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, who became just the ninth rusher in league history to surpass 2,000 yards in a season en route to Philadelphia’s Super Bowl LIX title, became the latest to make a passionate defense for the hotly debated play.
“If you don’t like it, get better at stopping it,” Barkley told ESPN as he attended the Met Gala this week in New York. “It’s not like a play that we only could do. Everybody does it. Everyone tries it. We’re just super successful at it.”
That sentiment contrasts sharply against NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who is favoring a ban of some sort, perhaps through a return to pre-2004 rules, when players were not allowed to push or pull a ballcarrier in any fashion. After a proposal to ban the Tush Push, made by the Packers, was tabled last month at the NFL’s annual meeting, the issue is expected to be revisited at the league’s spring meeting in Minnesota set for May 20–21.
Advocates of a ban have cited safety concerns, though there were no player injuries last year from the play, as well as aesthetic issues, as the accentuated quarterback sneak has been likened by some to a rugby play.
At the recent NFL draft in Green Bay, Goodell said on The Pat McAfee Show that he expects agreement to develop around the issue, as he revisited the aesthetic and safety arguments. At the prior annual meeting, team support for a ban was divided, leaving the Packers’ proposal about eight votes shy of the necessary threshold for passage.
“I think as people see the different things the [NFL competition] committee has been considering and hear the conversation, I think they’ll actually develop a consensus,” Goodell said.
Barkley, for his part, remains defiant in his support for the play.
“[People] are going to be in their feels about it and are going to try to make changes, but I don’t see that happening. And if it doesn’t, just get better at stopping it,” he said.
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