The NFL’s annual league meeting was held in Palm Beach, Fla., this week, which saw team owners, general managers and head coaches discuss potential rule changes for the 2025 season.
Most notably, the Green Bay Packers proposed to have the Philadelphia Eagles’ signature tush push banned. The play, a modern take on the quarterback sneak, has been virtually unstoppable over the last three seasons.
Several teams have argued that the tush push poses potential safety risks for players. Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, a member of the Competition Committee, is among those in favor of the tush push being banned, via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk:
“Here’s what I would say,” McVay said. “I don’t — and I told these guys this — I don’t believe in taking something out because they do it better than anybody else. And I told both Jon and Howie that when we were talking yesterday.
“What I don’t like is the optics of that play. Looks like a rugby scrum. And there are some health and safety things, which those things exist in short yardage and goal line situations as well. I’m kind of conflicted because you don’t wanna be a hater because they do it better than anybody else, so I don’t agree with that. But I also wish we didn’t let the play in in the first place in regards to just the optics of what it looks like. Doesn’t look like football to me. And Jon, you know, those guys they understood it, but obviously, you know where they stand on that.”
McVay admitted that it will be difficult to ban the tush push due to the semantics of the play:
“Those are a lot of the conversations in terms of the semantics, the specifics, and then I think a lot of the dialogue goes back to even some of the conversations we’ve had on the Competition Committee is, ‘All right, how do we allow it to be officiated in a clear manner and that’s where some of the things get granular?’” McVay said. “What I understand from Green Bay’s proposal is it’s specifically that play in regards to the immediate push behind the center and what that represents. What is that time? Within a second is what they kind of had communicated to us, but it does open up some other things and the consistency across — you have an appreciation for the challenges and the semantics with that. I’ll be interested to see how that vote goes tomorrow.”
Discussions to ban the tush push were tabled this week, with talks expected to resume during the NFL spring meetings in May.
It was reported that 16 of the 32 NFL teams are in favor of the tush push being banned. A minimum of 24 votes will be needed to pass an alteration to the rules.
Sean McVay explains why Rams re-signed Tutu Atwell
While speaking to reporters at the NFL’s annual league meeting, Sean McVay also explained why the Rams re-signed Tutu Atwell. “I think when you look at his body of work, when he’s been able to play – especially in some of the times that he was playing when Cooper was on IR – there was a lot of production,” McVay said.
“And if you project that over the course of 17 games, you just watch what he was able to do. He’s matured as a young man. I love the person, getting to know him, and I think that he’s only getting better. He’s 24 years old. I thought he really improved his route detail. For a smaller guy, he’s got a good catch radius.”
