Jason Kelce intervention SAVES the tush push as NFL owners vote to keep controversial play in shock move
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The Philadelphia Eagles’ signature ‘tush push’ has lived to see another day after Jason Kelce jetted out to the NFL owners meeting in a bid to save the controversial play.
A vote on Wednesday was expected to see the move – which helped the Eagles win the Super Bowl – banned by NFL owners, after the Green Bay Packers led the charge against it.
But in a shock turn of events, 22 teams voted to ban it while 10 voted to keep it, leaving those against the play two votes short of the 24 needed.
The news came just hours after ex-Eagles star Kelce touched down in Minnesota to field questions from NFL owners about his own experiences of the controversial play.
On his New Heights podcast alongside brother Travis, Jason said: ‘I’m actually going to Minnesota. There were some things said at the last owners’ meeting… some of the owners and coaches hinted that the reason I stopped playing was because of the tush push, and that I got hurt on the tush push frequently.
‘I’m just going to answer any questions people have on my partaking in this play. I don’t care whether it gets banned or not. I think that at the end of the day, this is why you vote on things. If they vote to ban the tush push, the Eagles are still going to run quarterback sneak at a very high percentage.’
The popular ‘tush push’ – used mainly by the Eagles – is set to be banned today, per reports
The play has been frequently and often successfully by the Eagles in short-yardage situations
Despite claiming that he didn’t care about the result of the vote, the former center was seen smiling and hugging Eagles staff after the meeting had concluded.
The decision to keep the tush push was made just hours after NFL insider Dianna Russini had claimed that the vote was heading towards a ban.
In an X post, she wrote: ‘Hours away from the owners’ vote surrounding the future of the tush push, I’m told both the league’s competition and players’ health and safety committees have voted to ban the play.
‘Despite the Eagles’ best efforts, the tush push is likely on its way out, sources say.’
The Green Bay Packers – coincidentally one of the Eagles’ most intense rivals – have led the charge to ban the play over the past year, even changing the wording this summer in a refreshed bid to convince owners.
While the initial proposal in March referred to a ban on players pushing their teammate from behind ‘immediately at the snap,’ the new proposal does not specifically use the word ‘snap’ at all.
Philly and QB Jalen Hurts won a Super Bowl last year, beating the Chiefs in New Orleans
‘Prohibits an offensive player from pushing, pulling, lifting or assisting the runner except by individually blocking opponents for him,’ the proposal reads in the ‘Effect’ section.
The new proposal also entirely replaced one section – which referred specifically to the snap – with a more simplified line: ‘assist the runner except by individually blocking opponents for him.’
The play, which was used frequently by the Eagles en route to their Super Bowl win last year, typically sees several Eagles line up in the backfield and push quarterback Jalen Hurts from behind after he receives the snap.
The Packers needed 24 of 32 teams to back their motion, but they fell just two short. It is unclear exactly which teams voted for and against banning the play.
