Jeffrey Lurie tries to turn tush-push safety issue on its head

One of the more disingenuous arguments being pushed by the anti-tush push crowd is the notion that, despite the absence of injury data to prove the play isn't safe, it could be a safety issue.

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie has turned that argument on its head.

Via Dianna Russini of TheAthletic.com, Lurie has made the case for keeping the play directly to his peers at the ownership meeting in Minneapolis. Per the report, Lurie emphasized "the need to clean up the process, not the play itself."

Lurie also reportedly said this: “Whoever votes to ban this play is taking liability for putting risk on our quarterbacks.”

In other words, he's saying that the safety risk comes not from having the play, but from not having it.

Of course, there's no reason to think that not pushing a quarterback during the sneak makes a quarterback sneak more dangerous. But with those who want the play to go pushing the illogical idea that, despite the absence of data, the play is dangerous, it's the perfect response.

Here's the far better position. The Eagles, even without the pushing of the tush, will still run a largely unstoppable quarterback sneak. The change, then, is cosmetic.

Indeed, getting rid of the tush push could make the Eagles ever more determined to run the quarterback sneak early and often. Starting with (we hope) the first snap from scrimmage during the first game of the 2025 regular season.