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The Philadelphia Eagles rejoiced on Wednesday, May 21 when it was announced Jalen Hurts' Tush Push survived an attempt from the NFL to cull the play, but tensions were high - particularly between Jeffrey Lurie and the San Francisco 49ers.
A total of 22 teams voted to get rid of the short-yardage quarterback sneak, highly effectively used by the Eagles and Josh Allen's Buffalo Bills, and fell shy of the winning margin by just two votes.
A total of 10 teams opted to keep the play in the sport including the Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, and Tennessee Titans.
Whilst the Kansas City Chiefs interestingly abstained from the vote, despite the Tush Push being used against them in their 40-22 defeat in Super Bowl LIX back in February 9.
As the Eagles celebrated their victory and retention of a play that works 87% of the time for them (first down or touchdown), it was the release of a lot of tension from the new champions - including from the ownership.
During the meetings in Minnesota, the owner Jeffrey Lurie got particularly heated with the executive vice-president of the NFL, Troy Vincent, and even the Commissioner, Roger Goodell.
Criticizing their bids to get rid of one of Hurts' most efficient weapons, he launched into a ionate speech with some interesting analogies and it seemed to have the 49ers' Jed York bored.
York asked Lurie, to his face, "how much more s**t" he had to say on the topic, but eventually the Eagles had the last laugh as the play survived to see the 2025/26 NFL season.
Philadelphia was also backed up by their assistant general manager, John Ferrari, and Jason Kelce - who won the Super Bowl with them in 2017/18 and was a legendary center for the team before retiring in 2024.
Who tried to ban the Tush Push?
The Green Bay Packers, from the NFC North, spear-headed the charge to ban the Tush Push but came up just short in their quest on Wednesday as the play survived by two votes.
The play works by having two players line up behind the QB and literally push him over the line, often deployed on a third or fourth down, as opposed to the typical method of the player trying to burst through on his own.
The Packers aimed to strike the play down by banning pushing, or pulling, a player rushing the ball "in any direction at any time," as well as lifting a player up off the ground too.