Falcons Firmly Against Tush Push, Cite Injury Concerns

One of the NFL's most infamous plays, the Philadelphia Eagles-motivated "tush push," may be in its final days -- which is music to the ears of Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris.

NFL owners will vote on the future of the tush push this week at the spring league meetings, which takes place Tuesday and Wednesday in Minneapolis. The league initially tabled the vote surrounding the tush push after it was formally proposed at the owners meetings April 1 in Palm Beach, Florida.

Yet while preliminary, unofficial voting showed teams are split, Morris transparently spoke out against the play, which entails teammates pushing the quarterback forward in short-yardage situations.

"Forget the tush push," Morris said with a smile on April 1. "Nobody wants that thing in play. I told (Eagles head coach Nick) Sirianni (on March 31), 'Man, he's out.'"

Morris added he likes to openly mess with Sirianni about the play, but he's serious about his distaste over the tush push's future in the sport.

"I don't like the play because of what I got to try to do to stop it," Morris said. "And for me, to be willing to push somebody into another human, potentially, what could possibly happen, I don't like. I've been really vocal about that."

Morris acknowledged he doesn't know the exact answer to defending the tush push, because no team has stopped it at a sufficient success rate. Teams have tried Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn's approach of jumping over the top, and Morris, in response to a question, noted the idea of bear crawling.

The play itself, Morris said three times, is ingenious -- and led to three Eagles assistants landing head coaching jobs. In 2023, offensive coordinator Shane Steichen and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon were hired for head coaching jobs by the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals, respectively, while the New Orleans Saints hired offensive coordinator Kellen Moore this spring.

Philadelphia has done a tremendous job executing the play. Morris has no qualms with that. It's merely the injury portion that worries him.

"I just fear for the worst on the play," Morris said. "And I don't necessarily like the play."

Morris wants to avoid one player pushing another in a "submarine fashion," which he believes creates risk for "some catastrophic injury that I don't really deem necessary."

But if the tush push remains prohibited, Morris and his staff will have to consider it.

"I think you leave people no choice," Morris said. "I just don't necessarily like the play."

Time will tell whether enough NFL owners agree with him.