Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni doesn’t want to see his disciples’ current employers voting to ban the ‘tush push’ – the short-yardage rugby-style play that has benefitted all of their respective coaching careers.
Speaking to reporters at this week’s NFL league meetings in Palm Beach, Florida, the Super Bowl-winning head coach called out his former ᴀssistants and their current employers, while appearing to play some head games ahead of the upcoming vote.
‘We’ll see how it goes,’ Sirianni told reporters, as quoted by NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. ‘All I will say about it is [Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan] Gannon, [Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane] Steichen and Kellen) Moore better vote for it. They are in the (head coach) position right now because of that play.
‘So all three, I better have those three votes right there and the Eagles’ vote,’ he added. ‘I at least know we have four.’
Unfortunately for Sirianni and the Eagles, that may not be enough. According to one ESPN source, the Green Bay Packers’ proposal to ban the play on safety grounds has the requisite 24 of 32 team votes needed for approval.
‘I feel, where I’m most concerned, is, even though there’s not significant data out there to this point, my main point and concern is the health and safety of the players first and foremost,’ Bills coach Sean McDermott told reporters in Palm Beach.
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) scores touchdown on a tush push during Super Bowl LIX between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs on February 9
Head coach Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts #1 of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrates with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after beating the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 to win Super Bowl LIX
JUST IN: #Bills head coach Sean McDermott says he still thinks the TUSH PUSH PLAY SHOULD BE BANNED.McDermott says that he has injury concerns about the play despite the data stating that there is no injury risk.Wow.pic.twitter.com/3DJJCav6ua
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) March 31, 2025 Read More NFL chiefs want bombshell new rule change for 2025 season 
‘It’s two things,’ he continued. ‘It’s added force, number one, and then the posture of the players.’
The Bills have regularly run a form of the play, McDermott conceded, before saying the team will act with the ‘health and safety’ of the players in mind.
Not everyone outside of Sirianni’s coaching tree is hoping to see a ban. Tampa Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said last month he hopes to avoid it.
‘It’s a rugby element, but at the same time, when a team gets something that they’re good at, you gotta learn how to stop,’ Bowles said.
‘I don’t think the first thing you can do is try to take it out of the ball game because that takes away the creativity of everybody trying to do everything else. So you gotta learn how to stop it. Until we learn how to stop it, they’re gonna continue. It it’s not broke, don’t fix it.’
The vote is expected Tuesday.
The league will also look at making the dynamic kickoff rule permanent and reformatting the playoffs.
The compeтιтion committee is hoping to stick to the redesigned kickoff while moving touchbacks up to the 35-year-line with.
Meanwhile, the Detroit Lions have requested that playoff seeding be based strictly on record rather than moving division winners to the top four spots.
The Detroit Lions proposed that playoff seeding should be based on record instead of automatically placing division winners in the top four spots.
