The NFL’s effort to legislate out the tush push came up short, just like most defenses facing it. In a vote held at the league’s spring meetings, owners failed to pass a proposal that would have banned the play popularized and mastered by the Philadelphia Eagles. The final count was 22 in favor, with two shy of the 24 required to enact a rule change. As a result, the quarterback push remains legal heading into the 2025 season.

If the owners had voted for a ban, they would have changed the rule immediately, starting with the 2025 NFL season. But this won’t happen. Those 22 NFL teams are gonna have to face a tush push, which is not easy to tackle. With this voter turnout, Jeffrey Lurie showcased his real strength even at the age of 73. But, you know, Lurie’s attitude was so strong towards convincing the teams that his pre-meeting one-word answer itself showed the result. Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network has reported the incident. 

Tom Pelissero described the incident and what happened before the meeting. He said what Jeffrey Lurie said before he was going for the meeting. Pelissero said, “I see Jeffrey Lurie, a couple of other Eagles officials, and Jason walking in. I said to I go, ‘Jeffrey bringing in the big guns.’ He goes, ‘Absolutely.’ This was a very, you know, orchestrated plan for them to counter some of the narratives that have been going around.” Pelissero may or may not have said that purposefully, but it revealed Jeffrey Lurie’s true feelings about the ban. 

Tom Pelissero also said that before the meeting the teams which had a strong opinion against tush push changed their vote mid-way. The teams that did not vote for the ban are the Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots, Detroit Lions, and the Cleveland Browns. Then there are five more teams which are the Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, Tennessee Titans and the New York Jets. 

Unsurprisingly, we could have expected these results as seven of those nine teams (excluding the Eagles) are from the NFC, so they won’t be playing against the Eagles in the regular season. The schedule shows no games between the two AFC teams and the Eagles this season. Though they could meet the Eagles in the playoffs if those teams entered into the playoffs, the point here is, the Eagles and Jeffrey Lurie won in changing the narrative. But, you know, there was a feeling among some fans that Jason Kelce changed that narrative and flipped the unwanted side of the coin. 

Jason Kelce’s contribution in the push ban revocation 

Two months ago, when NFL owners had their annual meeting at Palm Beach in Florida, the Packers had proposed to ban the tush push. Along with them, the real resistance was coming from the Bills, the Rams and the Falcons. But despite the strong resistance, the votes fell short. And it is said that the main reason behind this was Jason Kelce’s speech in that meeting. 

According to renowned NFL insider Adam Schefter, “I noticed Jason Kelce wasn’t there. He was in Minneapolis, the Eagles were hiding him out… They brought him in with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, they had him talk about exactly what we’re talking about here.” He was only there to convince the teams. In fact, he wanted to clarify various misconceptions about the tush push. “I’ll come out of retirement today if you tell me all I’ve got to do is run 80 tush pushes to play in the NFL. I’ll do that gladly. It’ll be the easiest job in the world.” 37-YO Jason Kelce said this jokingly on his New Heights podcast once. 

This is also called the real failure of the system. And why is that? Tom Pelissero, in his interview with Dan Patrick, said that this is the first time the NFL has taken a decision against the rules committee and health committee. Y’all know how many rules have changed the betterment of players’ health. However, the discussion of health concerns also drew criticism, since no player has yet been injured by the tush push. 

So, from all these tough talks and situations, Jason Kelce and Jeffrey Lurie tried their best, and they succeeded in no time. That means the Eagles and Jalen Hurts will be using their important weapon in the 2025 season as well. Let’s see how the opponent’s gonna stop the push.