“I almost feel a little insulted,” Sirianni fires back. And why wouldn’t he? It’s about the Brotherly Shove getting attacked in the NFL offseason. This season is getting exciting with each passing day with the recent topic being the ‘rules change proposals.’ And now, a Ravens legend has joined the discussion – aiming his arrows straight at the Eagles. But wait – Nick Sirianni isn’t having any of it. 

So, should the Eagles’ signature move the Tush-Tush be banned by the NFL? Are other teams just jealous that they can’t duplicate it, or is it really an unfair advantage? That’s the million-dollar debate raging across the league, and the answer isn’t as simple as it seems.

The Tush Push has been controversial for some time, but it received a fresh wave of criticism when Ravens Legend Bart Scott attacked it on ESPN’s Get Up. Alongside Mike Greenberg and Damien Woody, Scott shared his thoughts on why he believes the play gives the offense an unfair advantage. “What makes a Tush Push unfair?” Scott argued. “It’s because you have one side that gets to push, not once, not twice, but three times. Meanwhile, as a linebacker, I can’t push my defensive tackle forward. It’s like one team gets to play tug-of-war with eight players while the other only gets four.”

Scott painted a vivid picture: If a defensive lineman had Jalen Carter in front of him, and another defender jet-packing him forward, offensive players would be screaming bloody murder about it. And Greenberg was delighted that he finally had someone on his side against the play. 

But who suggested this game-changing move? Enter – the Green Bay Packers. They want to make it unlawful to push the QB forward during a scrum and outlaw the Tush-Push. Their logic? It puts players at risk and provides the offense with an unfair advantage, yet if you ask Nick Sirianni, he’d probably roll his eyes so hard he’d pull a muscle.

And Nick Sirianni, of course, had no intention of letting the nay-sayers take the potshots at his team’s bread-and-butter play. The Super Bowl-winning coach was obviously angered by the implication that the Tush Push is a cheat code. Speaking at the NFL Scouting Combine, he said, “I almost feel a little insulted because we work so hard at that play. There’s a thousand plays out there, but it comes down to how you teach the fundamentals.”

Sirianni also pointed out that not every team can pull it off, citing recent playoff failures as an example. “I mean, we saw it in the championship games—teams failed at it, and it cost them. It’s a skill. It’s not automatic.” And he has a point. We saw the Detroit Lions in the NFC championship game, trying to pull the move – but fell flat on their face. Jared Goff barely moved an inch as the 49ers‘ defense swallowed him whole. And took the ball and shifted the game. 

He even refuted the injury excuse, calling it – “a little made up.” Sirianni claims the Eagles ran the play more than any other team last season, and guess what? Not a single injury. So, the player safety argument – a waste of time. But now the NFL’s competition committee will determine if all these rule change proposals will actually make it to the rule book or not. Because the drama doesn’t stop here – there’s more.

Nick Sirianni vs. the rulebook: Fair play or just protecting the shove?

While the Packers are fighting against the Tush Push, other teams are also attempting to change the rules. NFL teams suggest changes – sometimes in the name of fairness, but let’s be real, mostly to give themselves an edge. But Nick Sirianni isn’t going to let the change happen as he is so attached to the shove, “Obviously, I’m protective of it because we’ve had success with it, but I trust the competition committee to do their job.” 

Meanwhile, the Lions are trying their luck by pushing for two major changes – one to improve playoff seeding and another to make onside kicks more recoverable, as they are now as uncommon as seeing Bigfoot. They contend that a team’s conference status ought to be more significant than just winning a weak division. And the reason they are giving for the rule change? To prevent mediocre division winners from securing home-field advantage over stronger wild-card teams. 

But the real reason? The Lions have consistently been one of the AFC’s top teams in recent years and have to deal with division rivals like the Dolphins and Jets while the other teams in weaker divisions just cruise to the playoffs with lesser records.

Meanwhile, the Bills are supporting the seeding move because they are fed up with the way the present system favours teams that simply luck into an easier division. And then there’s the Steelers, who want to loosen free agency contact rules, which would allow teams to begin informal talks sooner without resorting to “tampering.”

So, how likely is it that these proposals make it through? Well, NFL owners aren’t exactly known for shaking up the fundamental aspects of the game. While player safety concerns do carry some weight, the Tush Push ban is difficult because there is no data supporting the injury argument. But the playoff seeding tweak has a shot – the only problem? It gets a massive amount of TV views. For the final decision, we will have to wait till the end of March.