For the second year in a row, there's an effort to ban the Philadelphia Eagles' signature play. According to a report, there's some support for the ban this year; more than a year ago anyway.
The rule change was proposed by the Packers, who perhaps not so coincidentally lost to the Super Bowl champs in the playoffs. It's unfair, so the argument goes, for a play that involves just shoving human beings to gain yardage. Diane Russini of The Athletic says the move to ban the play is "getting more momentum" than a year ago.
More momentum, of course, doesn't mean the league is close to getting the necessary 24 votes to kill the measure. Some coaches (notably, Sean McDermott) called it a safety risk, though there's not any evidence to support that -- not from the league, or the Eagles certainly. Nick Sirianni says they've never had an injury on the play, and they run it more than anyone.
It's a play any team can run, and others have tried, but only the Eagles have been particularly successful at it. Over the last three years (they started running it in 2022), they've scored the most rushing touchdowns (83) in the league, and that total is actually 14 more than anyone but Detroit. Not all of those scores are on Tush Push plays, but Jalen Hurts has scored just over half (42) of that total, and the vast majority (28) are from 1 yard out. So it would clearly have a negative effect on his fantasy value.
Over the past three years, Philadelphia has scored at least twice as many rushing touchdowns as more than a third of the league's teams.
| TEAM RUSHING 2022-2024 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Att | Yds | Avg | TD |
| Philadelphia | 1675 | 7747 | 4.6 | 83 |
| Detroit | 1514 | 6978 | 4.6 | 79 |
| Buffalo | 1433 | 6674 | 4.7 | 69 |
| San Francisco | 1460 | 6912 | 4.7 | 64 |
| Baltimore | 1621 | 8570 | 5.3 | 61 |
| Miami | 1294 | 5789 | 4.5 | 51 |
| Arizona | 1368 | 6689 | 4.9 | 50 |
| Atlanta | 1576 | 7096 | 4.5 | 49 |
| Washington | 1423 | 6354 | 4.5 | 48 |
| L.A. Rams | 1338 | 5471 | 4.1 | 48 |
| Indianapolis | 1414 | 6256 | 4.4 | 47 |
| Chicago | 1523 | 7147 | 4.7 | 47 |
| Pittsburgh | 1520 | 6249 | 4.1 | 46 |
| Jacksonville | 1315 | 5491 | 4.2 | 46 |
| Green Bay | 1423 | 6514 | 4.6 | 45 |
| N.Y. Giants | 1398 | 6176 | 4.4 | 44 |
| Dallas | 1428 | 5923 | 4.1 | 44 |
| L.A. Chargers | 1298 | 5048 | 3.9 | 43 |
| Tennessee | 1381 | 5832 | 4.2 | 43 |
| Kansas City | 1284 | 5544 | 4.3 | 42 |
| Cleveland | 1441 | 6115 | 4.2 | 42 |
| Carolina | 1338 | 5857 | 4.4 | 41 |
| Seattle | 1190 | 5249 | 4.4 | 40 |
| New Orleans | 1389 | 5678 | 4.1 | 40 |
| Cincinnati | 1162 | 4629 | 4.0 | 37 |
| Minnesota | 1254 | 5069 | 4.0 | 34 |
| Las Vegas | 1221 | 4958 | 4.1 | 33 |
| New England | 1286 | 5408 | 4.2 | 32 |
| Houston | 1276 | 5032 | 3.9 | 32 |
| Denver | 1356 | 5653 | 4.2 | 31 |
| Tampa Bay | 1308 | 5353 | 4.1 | 29 |
| N.Y. Jets | 1156 | 4894 | 4.2 | 28 |
I don't think it's particularly likely the play will be banned. Getting three quarters of the league to support something which largely makes them look jealous (as opposed to concerned about safety or whatnot) will be tough.
If it were banned, while it would hurt (sorry) Hurts' value, it'd be a plus for Saquon Barkley. Of his 13 rushing scores last season, none were from the 1-yard line, and only 4 were from inside the 5. Imagine Barkley being an even greater fantasy monster than he was a year ago.
But most likely, the play will be here to stay, I think.
--Andy Richardson