No tush push ban this year, but concerns about the play remain
· Yahoo Sports
The NFL Annual Meetings will take place in Phoenix next week.
While five rule changes for the 2026 season will be considered by NFL owners, banning the tush push will not be one of them.
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The play, which was two votes shy of being banned at last year’s annual meetings in Palm Beach, will not be discussed this year. NFL Competition Committee co-chair Rich McKay said that does not mean discussions about the play won’t continue.
“I don’t know that’s the end of the debate,” McKay said during a conference call on Wednesday. “There’s still people that are concerned with the pushing element.
“There was no competition committee proposal last year on the tush push. There was no proposal the year before on that. Over the years, we’ve now seen that the number of plays [tush push] that’s been used are going down. I just think there’s less talk about it within the football community.”
Over the years, there has been a lot of criticism and several attempts to ban the tush push after the Eagles — and Bills — have recently had great success with the play. The Packers were among the 10 teams that voted in favor of the ban during last year’s annual meetings.
Along with the Eagles, the Ravens, Patriots, Jets, Browns, Lions, Jaguars, Dolphins, Saints and Titans were in favor of keeping the tush push last year, according to ESPN. For a rule change proposal to pass, the league requires 24 of 32 votes to approve any change.
The tush push was recently banned in the UFL ahead of its upcoming season, which begins on Friday.
There was some controversy regarding the tush push last season. During the Eagles’ 20-17 victory over the Chiefs in Week 2 last season, Philadelphia appeared to get away with several false starts on some tush pushes late in the game.
Then, during the Bills’ Wild Card playoff win against the Jaguars in January, quarterback Josh Allen executed the tush push on a 4th-and-1 play, trailing 24-20, that everyone saw coming. Not only did Allen gain a first down, but he was pushed by his teammates 10 yards down the field, which resulted in a first down at the one-yard line. Allen then scored a touchdown on a quarterback sneak to give the Bills a 27-24 playoff victory.
“You try to get penetration, is what you try to do, to be able to stop [the tush push],” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said following the loss to the Eagles. “They might’ve had a couple of ‘em that they got off early on, but we’ll look at that.”
The five proposals that will be discussed at the NFL Annual Meetings will be:
Permit the kicking team to declare an onside kick at any time during the game.Right now, only the team that’s trailing can attempt an onside kick. Teams still wouldn’t be allowed to attempt a surprise onside kick or stack several players on one side in hopes of increasing their chances of an onside recovery. But this rule change could bring more excitement to onside kicks, which have had a lower success rate since the onside rule changes took effect in 2024.
Eliminate the kicking team’s incentive to intentionally kick the ball out of bounds when kicking off from the 50-yard line.The Cowboys took advantage of this loophole during their Thanksgiving victory over the Chiefs last season. The ball moved to the 25-yard line when Dallas kicked the ball out of bounds from the 50-yard line.
Modify the kickoff alignment requirements for the receiving team in the setup zone.This proposal would change how teams line up on the restraining line, which would change the blocking setup on kickoff returns.
Allow league personnel to consult with on-field officials when considering disqualifications for both flagrant football acts and non-football acts without being called onto the field.As in several other sports, officials would be able to consult with one another when considering flagrant acts and possible ejections.
For one season only, allow the NFL Officiating Department to correct clear and obvious misses by on-field officials that impact the game in the event of a work stoppage involving officials represented by the NFL Referees Association.The NFL is getting ahead of a possible replacement refeere situation by prosposing the rule change that would allow replay assistace in New York to correct and preparing for the possibility of replacement officials in the 2026 season, proposing a rule change for one season that would allow the replay center to aid in any “clear and obvious” mistakes by on-field officials just in case there’s a work stoppage.
The league would again use replacement officials, as it did at the start of the 2012 season. The current collective bargaining agreement with the NFL and the NFL Referees Association is scheduled to expire on May 31.