Packers GM argued Tush Push safety concerns just as the NFL considers adding an 18th game

USA Today

31-03-2025

Packers GM argued Tush Push safety concerns just as the NFL considers adding an 18th game
This week, the NFL's competition committee will vote on whether to ban the famous (infamous?) Tush Push play popularized by the Philadelphia Eagles.
On one side of the aisle, people who want to keep the play around, like our Mike Sykes, believe that this new charge for a ban is borne of a loser mentality. Meanwhile, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni is counting on at least three other key organizational votes for the Tush Push because they all have ex-Eagles disciplines as their own head coaches.
On the other side, people like Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst are citing safety concerns for players about the Tush Push remaining legal. That appears to be the common, rehearsed talking point as the motion for a ban gains significant momentum in the background.
As an opponent of the play myself, I'll tell you this: This reasoning is flat-out gibberish.
If NFL teams were really concerned about player safety over the Tush Push, the league wouldn't be making a reported push to add an unthinkable 18th game to the regular season during this very same week. In fact, in a sane and rational world where people didn't have to lie through their teeth for brazen politicking, it wouldn't even be a discussion.
Unfortunately, that is not the world we live in, and especially not when it comes to the NFL. But what else is new?
Do you want to know why I personally don't like the Tush Push and want it banned? I think it sucks. I think it sucks to watch and I don't think it's a real football play. Plain and simple. I'm not going to pretend it's for any other contrived reason. I just think the Tush Push sucks and want it legislated out of the game forever as a result. Full stop.
People like Gutekunst and Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott, among others, can't say this kind of thing in public. Well, if they want it banned, at least. Because they know their motion will be dead in the water the moment they cross their arms and simply say they don't like the play. They will have zero public credibility, and those in the NFL who live by a "competition-or-die" mindset won't hop on board with their respective votes (if they were going to, anyway). It's a surefire way to ensure their desires of destroying the Tush Push will never get off the ground.
Beyond the lack of empirical medical data to support the claim, I know that merely talking about the Tush Push's "safety concerns" is just another cynical NFL assertion. If the league really cared about safety, it wouldn't consider subjecting players to the additional 60 minutes of physicality and brutality that a seemingly inevitable 18th game presents. If the league really cared about player safety, it wouldn't strongly consider moving kickoff touchbacks up to the 35-yard line to push teams to keep the ball in play more often on the actual most dangerous play in football: the kickoff.
But the league doesn't really care about player safety. Frankly, it never will ... which, fine. We all know what we're getting into when watching and playing a sport like football. It's an unofficial deal with the devil. Still, I wish that people like Gutekunst would drop these silly safety pretenses when talking about the Tush Push. It's pretty insulting to hear because it's not about safety. They just don't like the play in any shape or form.
Be honest and say it with your chest for once, gentlemen.