Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown won’t be pulling an all-nighter waiting to see how NFL owners vote on a potential ban of Philadelphia’s virtually unstoppable assisted quarterback sneak play.
A vote on eliminating the rugby style quarterback sneak labeled the tush push is expected at the league meetings in Minneapolis on Wednesday. The league tabled a vote in March at the annual spring meeting, a signal the language required refinement or further alterations to gain the approval necessary to ban the successful short-yardage run used by the Super Bowl champions.
“I don’t have any thoughts on it,” Brown said Tuesday. “It’s only one yard.”
The atypical formation involves a power package with multiple players aligned behind quarterback Jalen Hurts. At the snap of the ball, those players quite literally bring up the rear and shove Hurts from behind through would-be tacklers.
A proposal on the table Wednesday would ban any player from “pushing or pulling the ball carrier anywhere on the field.”
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said in February it would be “unfair” for the 30 teams who aren’t operating the play from herding to block Philadelphia from using it going forward. The Buffalo Bills have also become frequent users of the play in short yardage. They combined for a success rate of 87 percent either converting a first down or scoring a touchdown.
“We’ll see where that goes,” Sirianni said. “We’re not waiting very long to figure it out. It’s going to be public (Wednesday). And you know how I feel about it.”
One way or another, Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata said he’d be glad to see the name of the play go.
“In terms of them banning the tush push, I hate that name, so I hope they do ban it — it’s a stupid name,” he said.
