Nfl, As Suspected, Recruited Packers To Propose Failed Tush Push Ban

When Lions president Rod Wood blurted out that the league office nudged the Lions to propose a new seeding system, it opened a new avenue for understanding how the rulemaking sausage gets made. And we suggested at the time that 345 Park Avenue possibly put the Packers up to proposing a tush-push ban, too.

Per a league source, that's exactly what happened.

The league asked the Packers to do it. And the Packers took one for the team.

As the source put it, most in the Green Bay organization don't care about the play, either way.

It never made sense for the Packers to be the anti-tush push poster child. They lost to the Eagles twice last year. A proposal coming from Green Bay reeked of sour grapes.

The league would have been better advised to get a team from the AFC (other than the Chiefs). Bills coach Sean McDermott spoke out in favor of the initial proposal; McDermott's voice had credibility because his team uses the maneuver, and does it well.

Of course, the initial version of the proposal banned an "immediate" push of the player receiving the snap. The Bills don't run it that way. When the proposal shifted to a version that banned all pushing, the Bills may have felt a little differently.

Regardless, the Packers were the ones the league office targeted. And the Packers are the ones that will carry the public embarrassment of the proposal going to a vote (instead of being withdrawn) and failing.

The truth is it's not on the Packers. The league office wanted to get rid of the play. For whatever reason, the league decided not to propose the measure through the normal procedure but to create the impression that one specific team decided to push for no tush push.