Philadelphia Eagles Nov 20, 2023; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; A general view of a Philadelphia Eagles helmet against the Kansas City Chiefs prior to a game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

For years, countless fans have shared their frustrations with the most unstoppable play in football, the trademarked “tush push” made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles. And as we head towards the 2025 season, one team president would like to see a substantial rule change be put in place to make the play illegal moving forward.

Since beginning to implement the tush push in 2022 in short-yardage situations, the Eagles have had a success rate of over 90 percent on sneak attempts from star quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Each offseason since the implementation of the play, critics have been calling for the rules in the NFL to be adjusted to make the practice of players shoving the quarterback from behind illegal.

It seems like the upcoming 2025 offseason is no exception. Packers team president Mark Murphy openly spoke about the tush push in a monthly Q&A column on the Packers team website, calling for a rule to be made to take out the play that he calls “bad for the game” of football.

“I am not a fan of this play,” Murphy said in his monthly Q&A column on the team website. “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.”

One play that Murphy is referencing was in the NFC Championship Game where the Washington Commanders continually jumped offside to attempt to stop the tush push they knew was coming.

This resulted in the referees in the game warning the Commanders that they would award a score if they continued to jump offside.

Eventually, the Eagles did convert on their tush push attempt and would go on to cruise to a comfortable win to reach the Super Bowl.

Only time will tell whether the tush push plays a significant factor in Super Bowl LIX. But if it does, there may be even more critics again calling for the play to be banned this coming offseason.

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.