Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie celebrates after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX at Ceasars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
It sounds like Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie didn't necessarily take a diplomatic approach in making his successful plea to save the Tush Push at Wednesday's NFL Owners Meetings.
Dianna Russini ofThe Athletic provided some in-depth details on what Lurie had to say in his pitch to other owners before voting took place on legislation introduced by the Green Bay Packers to outlaw the play:
One high-ranking league source who was in the room said, “Lurie was like a guy trying to convince his girlfriend why she shouldn’t leave him.” Throughout his pitch, Lurie was emotional, passionate and — at one point — crude. He said the fact that his team came up with a play so unstoppable that the rest of the league had no other choice but to try to ban it was “like a wet dream for a teenage boy.” Toward the end of his address, he told the assembled owners that, regardless of the day’s result, he and his franchise would walk out winners, with Super Bowl rings to show for it.
It's mildly surprising that this approach didn't turn some other owners off, although perhaps the intent from Lurie was to challenge teams. Perhaps he was basically challenging the competitiveness of other owners by suggesting that it would be weak to ban this play just because the Eagles are so much better at it than everyone else. And maybe that approach worked.
Also possible is that Lurie was just shooting from the hip without a ton of a strategy and enough owners — who surely were influenced by their football people — agreed with him. Either way, the play will live on another year.
Despite it being perceived entering the day that the Tush Push would be outlawed, the legislation didn't garner enough votes. 24 owners needed to vote in favor of banning the play, but only 22 did.
The Eagles were one of 10 teams that voted down the potential ban, with ESPN's Adam Schefter reporting that they were joined by the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets and Tennessee Titans.
