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May 10, 2025; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski watches during rookie minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Browns' Kevin Stefanski Gets Honest About 'Tush Push'

Originally posted on Cleveland Browns on SI
By Spencer German | Last updated May 23, 2025 11:00 AM ET

To ban the tush push or not to ban the tush push? That is a question that was at the forefront of the NFL's annual owners' meetings this offseason. It's a conversation that ultimately ended with the play remaining intact after the ban failed to pass by just two votes.

The final results saw 22 teams approve the ban, and 10 vote against it. One of those 10 teams that sided with the Philadelphia Eagles and their seemingly unstoppable play was the Cleveland Browns. It was an unsurprising move by Cleveland, after head coach Kevin Stefanski made the team's stance on the matter known at the first owners' meetings back in March.

Ultimately, it's a decision that team owner Jimmy Haslam gets the final say on as he casts the vote. However, as Stefanski admitted during an interview with 92.3 The Fan's Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima, Haslam consulted with him and general manager Andrew Berry to formulate an official stance.

The Browns head man provided even more context as to why they're okay with the play remaining a part of the sport.

"Last season, if you didn't push, you had a higher rate of conversion than if you did," Stefanski explained. "So to say that the push aspect of this was what was putting them over the top, I just think they do it better than anybody else. Other teams have tried and haven't done it well. We, over the years, we believe in the quarterback sneak that plays not going anywhere."

During the 2022 season, the Browns used the QB sneak quite a bit with Jacoby Brissett under center for the majority of the campaign. Stefanski praised Brissett as the best QB sneaker he's been around as a coach and revealed that he actually preferred not to be pushed on the play.

Stefanski also highlighted a key moment from the Browns memorable 2023 season as another major reason why they didn't want to ban the ability to push or pull players, or more specifically, a pile.

"We had a great play at Baltimore a couple years back, hand the ball to Jerome Ford on that last drive, and, and he's pushing and, or he's he's fighting for extra yards," said Stefanski. "That's what our game is about, fighting for that inch, you know, fighting for those extra yards.

"And here come his teammates to push him, every single one of them pushing the pile. And that was a great image for our football team. Obviously, we coached off of that, and use that as an example of a team that really cares about each other."

Ford being thrust forward by a huddle of his teammates during the final drive of an epic comeback against the Baltimore Ravens, became one of the lasting images of the Browns 2023 season that ended with a trip to the playoffs. It certainly makes sense that Stefanski and his staff wouldn't want to lose that moving forward.

The wording of the rule change, proposed by the Green Bay Packers would have reinstated an old rule that eliminated pushing or pulling of any kind. Green Bay also cited "player safety" as a reason to ban the play, but as Stefanski – and others – have highlighted, there's no evidence to support that claim.

"I would hate to lose that play, a play that I don't think is dangerous," he added. "...I would hate the idea in this game of football where the defense is trying to stop the offense from moving the ball an inch or a yard, and it's just the old school scrum element of that.

"I think that's an exciting play for our fans. I think it's an exciting play for our sport. I think it's at the core of where sport is, which is a physical endeavor, trip. We're trying to go that way. They're trying to stop us from going that way. You know, the rubber meets the road right there. So, that I would really dissuade or I didn't like the idea that that play wouldn't then be out of our game."

For now, at least, the play remains. But the conversation seems far from over.

This article first appeared on Cleveland Browns on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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