Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy — who is retiring in 2025 — still wants the National Football League to ban the “Tush Push” play made famous by Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles.
In his monthly Q&A column at Packers.com, Murphy said he is “not a fan” of the play and would like the league to ban pushing the quarterback on sneak plays.
From Murphy:
“I am not a fan of this play. There is no skill involved and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less. The series of plays with the Commanders jumping offsides in the NFC Championship Game to try to stop the play was ridiculous. The referee even threatened to give the Eagles an automatic touchdown if the Commanders did not stop it. I would like to see the league prohibit pushing or aiding the runner (QB) on this play. There used to be a rule prohibiting this, but it is no longer enforced because I believe it was thought to be too hard for the officials to see. The play is bad for the game, and we should go back to prohibiting the push of the runner. This would bring back the traditional QB sneak. That worked pretty well for Bart Starr and the Packers in the Ice Bowl.”
Here is the controversial sequence from last Sunday’s NFC Championship Game between the Eagles and Washington Commanders. Linebacker Frankie Luvu attempted to time out the snap and leap over the center to stop the “Tush Push,” but he incurred several consecutive offsides penalties near the goal line.
When LB Frankie Luvu tried to disrupt the @Eagles tush push in the NFC Championship, officials warned the @Commanders that they may invoke the rarely used, but long-standing, @NFL Rule 12.3.2 on “Palpably Unfair Acts.”
Learn more bout the rule: https://t.co/cxM5ZPtutG pic.twitter.com/KHS4ilHh1f
— NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) January 27, 2025
Murphy has been against the Tush Push play since it first hit the scene in 2023.
This isn’t to say the Packers haven’t found a way to benefit from the play. In 2024, coach Matt LaFleur started using tight end Tucker Kraft on sneaks from under center, and the Packers went 5-for-5 on conversions using the play, including twice in the playoffs in Philadelphia.
Expect to see the “Tush Push” a couple of times during Super Bowl LIX next Sunday. Hurts and the Eagles will be attempting to stop Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs from winning a third straight Super Bowl.
While the Eagles made the push a near automatic first down, the Chiefs did stop Josh Allen on a couple of similar plays in the AFC Championship Game, including a controversial stop on fourth down in the second half.
Any possible rule change for 2025 would come in the offseason via the league’s competition committee, but it’s unclear if the shenanigans from the conference championship games — and Murphy’s desire to get rid of the play — will create any changes for next year.
