Every year, the NFL makes a couple of changes to the league’s rulebook, and teams around the league have to make adjustments to comply and avoid the dreaded yellow laundry thrown by officiating crews.
Usually, rule changes’ impact is felt relatively evenly across the league’s landscape. One change heading into the 2024 season is different, however.
The league has made a slight alteration to rules regarding pushing a quarterback from behind, a maneuver the Philadelphia Eagles made famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view). This maneuver is commonly known as the “Tush Push.”
Change to the NFL Rulebook Will Alter the Infamous ‘Tush Push’ Play
The Tush Push is a play popularized by the Eagles in which one or more players line up behind the quarterback and shove him into – and often over or through – the offensive and defensive lines. Meanwhile, the offensive line gets as low as possible to gain leverage and push back the opposing interior defenders.
According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, the league told teams that, despite the Tush Push remaining a legal play, “a rule clarification now stipulates that the ‘pushers’ need to start at least 1 yard behind QBs.”
This required realignment in the backfield will prevent offensive players from being in an immediate position to shove the ball carrier from behind, something the Eagles did to great effect during the 2023 season.
Of course, the Eagles lost their greatest competitive advantage when it comes to the Tush Push during the 2024 offseason when future Hall of Fame center Jason Kelce retired from the league.
Kelce was one of the league’s best centers over the course of his career. His ability to get lower than just about any defensive lineman, as well as his incredible power for a lineman of his size, regularly propelled the team into the end zone or over the first-down marker.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has said himself that it was the “specialness of the players involved” that made the play so successful, and there was no player along the Eagles’ starting line more special than Kelce.
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Early in the 2024 offseason, the NFL considered banning the Tush Push play altogether. Some pundits felt the change could be made for the sake of player safety, while others considered a change was needed for the sake of competitive advantage.
League executive Troy Vincent told reporters on a March 2024 conference call that ultimately, the league did not move forward with a proposal for a rule to ban the play.