Philly Media Guru Blasts Russini’s Report that Tush Push Ban is Gaining Momentum

The Tush Push, the Philadelphia Eagles signature short yardage enigma play, by definition needs momentum and of course it gets it by design when Saquon Barkley and Dallas Goedert give quarterback Jalen Hurts a plow from the backside until the ball crosses the plane of the goal line or the imaginary “line to gain.” Damn, I swore I’d never be made to write that ridiculous new made up term for the “first down marker”. Anyway since I’m not sure if calling it a report would be accurate, let’s just say a well-timed and strategically placed blurb surfaced by Athletics Senior NFL

Insider Diane Russini on her podcast, Scoop City, last week with former Eagle Chase Daniel, regarding a possible Tush Push push-back play ban per the upcoming proposal by the Green Bay Packers to vote down the Birds’ signature short yardage play at this coming week’s owners meetings in Palm Beach, Florida. Here it is:

The blurb made headlines worldwide, which is great if that’s what the goal is and that’s exactly what one Philadelphia media guru believes was Russini’s intention. Jon Marks is a talk-show host with PHLY and was a long-time colleague of mine at 97.5 The Fanatic Sports Talk Radio in Philadelphia before settling into the drive-time slot at 94.1 WIP Sports Talk Radio with former Eagle Ike Reese for many years. This was Marks’ response to Russini’s tweet Friday night via X/Twitter:

Jalen Carter’s double punch to Pat Mahomes face is something special pic.twitter.com/coEhRN86Hb

— Jon Marks (@JonMarksMedia) February 10, 2025

@JonMarksMedia

Eagles fans this is total BS. The headline implies there could be enough votes to ban the tush push. There is a ZERO % chance of that happening this year. Listen to what she says, which has no substance & was intentionally said to capture a headline that aggregators will pick up.

Not everyone can be an ESPN reporter but some can just do it all. Kamara gives it a try. #Saints pic.twitter.com/HT7TaGmABH

— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) September 23, 2019

@DMRussini

Nothing is set in stone yet. But the sense I get from around the league is that momentum around banning the tush push is growing.

Marks also tweeted this:

I hate everything https://t.co/2tdXZjPBjo

— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) April 22, 2020

@jonmarksmedia

That’s their entire tush push building momentum conversation that has caught headlines. Nothing else was said about it. Embarrassing and misleading work by one of the worst “NFL insiders”

So I contacted Marks via text and basically asked him to elaborate on his response and he said this to me via text:  “The problem I have with Russini is she just says there is momentum building without any reasoning or context. She does it all the time. Like has she spoken to a number of general managers or owners who are voting to ban it? The answer is no. She hasn’t. There is no one else saying that. Will it be discussed and will the media make a big deal out of it? Yup. She has the formula. No one actually listens to what she says and just uses the headline. So she wins.”

More Momentum Mongering

Then I wake up Sunday to this little gem from one of ESPN’s NFL Insider’s Jeremy Fowler.  “Yeah, there is at least some momentum,” Fowler said during an appearance on Sunday’s SportsCenter. There’s that word again – momentum. Wonder where he got that. “So, here’s the deal.” Fowler would go on to say, “In West Palm Beach, NFL owners are meeting today through Tuesday, they will vote on several issues around the league, including the Green Bay Packers’ proposal that you cannot push a ball carrier immediately after the snap. I talked to one general manager in the league who believes this will be passed under the guise of public safety.

Okay so you talked to ONE general manager Jeremy? When you need 24 of 32 owner’s votes to pass a proposal what does speaking to one G.M. do for you? And player safety? Did you happen to ask him to expound on that? Because if the play gets banned because of “player safety” then you know the fix was in because the NFL has already run their injury data and the results came back clean – a big, fat zero. There hasn’t been one injury reported that resulted because of the Tush Push as Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni reiterated to reporters last month. Sirianni said that he thinks health and safety concerns are “a little made up. … I can’t remember one injury we had on that play and we ran it more than anybody else.” That’s coach-speak for “I call B.S. on that.” The NFL can’t even do their version of a “forced depletion” report of the play, like the military does, because anything times zero is ZERO.

Tush Push Peril? – Only in New York

Okay so there was this; last October 2nd, while hosting the Seahawks at Met Life Stadium, on the opening drive, the Giants tried a Tush Push but not only was the play unsuccessful, but it also did result in injuries for rookie center John Michael Schmitz and tight end Daniel Bellinger.

“Yeah, both guys got hurt on the tush push play.” said Giants head coach Brian Daboll afterwards, and went on to admit that the team had walked through the play in practice but never ran it as a live rep, but they felt comfortable with the decision to run the play in a live game any way. Hmmm, I wonder how comfortable Schmitz and Bellinger felt afterwards. I don’t think An Afternoon at the Improv counts on the injury report but in the interest of full disclosure….only in East Rutherford.

It’s a little unsettling that the NFL Competition Committee has representation from two other teams from the NFC East, Stephen Jones, the COO of the Cowboys and John Mara, the CEO and owner of the Giants. The Eagles have none. But what’s really embarrassing is that if you can’t play the “player safety” card then what are you left with to argue against it?

“Uh, well, we think the Eagles are not being very nice because they have very big offensive line guys and two other thinner guys who do the pushing that can do breather-squats over 1,200 pounds and we keep getting beat on the play and look kinda silly trying to stop it – almost as silly as us standing here in front of our peers and Super Bowl winning coaches like coach McVay and coach Tomlin and general manager Lynch asking the league to step in and help us. It’s just not fair.” Otherwise what’s the argument?

Did you know that Tom Brady has the highest success rate for quarterback sneak conversions in his 20 year career? Brady converted 121 out of 144 QB sneaks that included eight touchdowns in his two-decade tenure as the NFL’s G.O.A.T. Outside of a random kicker, Brady might be the most unathletic human to ever don a professional uniform. Did anyone propose a ban on Brady’s quarterback sneaks? Did the Pats cheat on short yardage plays too? Or just when they let a little air out of the balls like every other team did? Don’t get me started.

While the play was iinvented in the same city that invented ice cream, erasers and girl scout cookies it already has declined in each of the three seasons it has existed. In 2022 the Eagles were 36 of 39 for a 92.3% rate. In 2023 they dropped to an 88.1% clip and then this past year they dipped even further to an 82.4% clip. The league average for QB sneaks’ success rate is 74%. Now that number for the Birds this year is a little misleading because officially Philly was stopped nine times total this past season. But eight of them were on 3rd downs and on the eight third down tries that didn’t work, the Birds were a perfect 8-8 on the following fourth down Tush Push that resulted in either a first down or a touchdown.

Really Coach?

Interestingly Bills head coach Sean McDermott, after being eliminated once again by the Kansas City Chiefs, came out publicly and questioned the safety of the play. This came two days after he ran the Tush Push six times against the Chiefs in their post-season loss finding success only twice. I guess he didn’t see a problem putting his players in harm’s way six times when his team was desperate to win.

If there’s never been much momentum against the play, and there hasn’t been, any momentum would be more than ever before. It’s all relative. So while Russini’s blurb may be technically accurate, it is very misleading and the same goes for Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano, another ESPN NFL Insider, who’s on the tube right now from Palm Beach repeating the same thing that the others are. Just remember it takes 24 owner votes. Is there a proposal, any proposal, that would get 24 owners to support it and more importantly, would that proposal truly ban the play entirely? The Packers’ proposal would merely delay it.

Whatever happens this week there will most likely still be some wiggle room for the Eagles to still get the play off, because the Packers’ proposal ban reads “immediately after the snap”. So, if the Birds wait a second after the snap and then push it could they still get momentum? It sounds like because of the specific language used by the Packers in their proposal to ban the Tush Push, the Birds could find some creative loop holes to take advantage of their personnel like they have the past three seasons.

So if the unlikely does happen this week don’t be surprised if Stoutland U and company call an emergency session in their laboratory in the bowels of Nova Care to get right to work on devising some variation of the Birds’ signature short yardage play.  The fact that there’s no simple and direct proposal that would ban the play suggests that the league remains a long way away from the required 24 votes to approve the Packers’ proposal.