NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell believes owners will come to a consensus in May on whether rule changes will be needed to eliminate the tush push play that’s helped the Philadelphia Eagles win one Super Bowl and reach another.
A proposal by the Green Bay Packers to eliminate the play was tabled at the league meetings this month but will be brought back up for a vote when the owners meet again in May.
Some proponents of eliminating the play point to player safety even though there’s no evidence of an increased injury risk, as well as the fact that the NFL prohibited pushing a ball carrier until a rule change that was put in place in 2005.
The original proposal by the Packers would have only banned pushing a player who was lined up directly behind the snapper and receives the snap, immediately at the snap. There has also been discussion about banning pushing a ball carrier at any spot on the field.
“A lot of coaches would tell you that’s not part of football, right. It may be rugby but it’s not us,” Goodell said Friday on “The Pat McAfee Show” at the NFL draft in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“The second thing is really the safety of the game. And that’s of primary importance to us. Is it a play that’s unsafe when you’re in those positions where you’re getting pushed or pulled and you can’t control where you’re going. Those are the two factors. On the other side, there’s a legitimate argument that everyone can do it, and you know, if somebody does it better than the others, that’s the way the game is played.”
It takes 24 of 32 votes to approve rule changes and neither side of the argument had clear support at the league meetings earlier this month.
“There were different concepts that were discussed. I would say there was a split,” Goodell said on McAfee’s show. “There wasn’t an overwhelming push either way, but I think as people see the different things the committee has been considering and hear the conversation, I think that they’ll actually develop a consensus.”
Goodell touched on several other topics in the interview:
Playoff seeding
Goodell touched on another potential rule change that was tabled until May, saying he believes there could be a modification to the proposal from Detroit to seed the playoffs by record instead of guaranteeing the division winners a top-four seed and at least one home game. The Lions made the proposal after Minnesota was forced to go on the road as a wild-card despite winning four more games than the Rams last season.
Goodell said he believes the owners could approve a smaller move to deny division winners a home game if they finish with a losing record.
“The question is at some point, if you’re not .500 or better, do you deserve the ability to have a home game, too?” he asked. “I think that’s pretty hard to argue.”
There have been four division winners in a non-strike-shortened season who hosted a playoff game despite having a losing record, with Tampa Bay the last to do it in 2022.
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18th game
Goodell remains committed to adding an 18th regular-season game to the schedule in the future. The NFL went from 16 games to 17 in 2021, reducing the preseason to three games, and would like to get to a model of 18 regular-season and two preseason games.
Goodell said he believes changes in equipment, practice rules and the offseason program have improved safety enough to add another week of games and the revenue that comes with it. But the league needs approval from the NFLPA to do it.
“They have a right to approve it,” he said. “So that’s going to be really important for us, in having that conversation, say yes, we can grow the pie, and they get a percentage of it. Is it the right step? I think we feel strongly that it is, but that may be something that will have to happen over a longer term. It may not be a shorter-term thing.”
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International play
The NFL will be playing games in Ireland and Spain for the first time this season and are set for the first game in Australia in 2026, expanding the number of countries to host a regular-season game to eight outside the United States. Goodell said the long-term plan is to get to 16 international games a year, up from seven scheduled for this season.
“I think we’ll get to Asia pretty soon,” he said. “I think we can be worldwide with our game.”
Holiday play
Goodell said he was pleased with the league’s two Christmas games on Netflix last season and said the NFL will be a staple on the holiday going forward. There will be three games on Christmas this year, when it falls on a Thursday, and he said the league plans to play at least three Christmas games every year going forward.
He also said there will be a small tweak to the Thanksgiving schedule with the Detroit Lions’ annual home game moving from 12:30 p.m. ET to 1 p.m. ET.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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