Matt LaFleur says tush push decision 'is what it is,' best way to stop play is for Packers' defense to prevent it
The Green Bay Packers submitted an amended proposal to ban the tush push at an NFL owners meeting last May. The proposal fell two votes short of the 24 it needed for approval.
Close to six months later, the Packers are hosting the team that popularized the play, the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
While former Packers president Mark Murphy officially spearheaded the proposal in the spring, head coach Matt LaFleur spoke publicly at the time about his concerns regarding the safety of the play.
LaFleur was asked Thursday ahead of his team's Week 10 "Monday Night Football" showdown versus the Eagles if his stance has since changed on the tush push.
"I'm not going to get into it," LaFleur said. "It is what it is. The NFL made a decision, and we have to find a way to try to stop the play, and it's a tough play to stop."
The Eagles defeated the Packers twice last season: first in Brazil during the teams' opener and then in Philadelphia during the wild-card round of the playoffs.
Green Bay faced the rugby-inspired sneak both times.
"I think the best way to stop it is to not allow it to happen," LaFleur said Thursday. "You can't allow them in those short-yardage situations because you know exactly what they're going to do. And they've been pretty successful at it, obviously."
Even though the tush push survived a potential ban this past offseason, it's shelf life in the league appears to be short, particularly after the officiating issues it's caused this season.
The Eagles got away with multiple false starts in a Week 2 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, one of which was reportedly highlighted in an officiating training video the league sent to officials and teams after the first two weeks of the season. Then on "Thursday Night Football" in Week 6, Philadelphia ran the tush push four times in a row to score a touchdown against the New York Giants. Fans pointed to additional false starts that weren't called, while Packers star edge rusher Micah Parsons even expressed his disdain for the tush push in a post on X.
Parsons elaborated on his frustration toward the play the following week during his mid-October rant about NFL officiating, which he argued prioritizes the safety of offensive players.
"S***, if you ask the Eagles' offensive players, they'll probably say, 'That's the best thing we're doing on offense right now,'" Parsons said in the wake of Philadelphia's two-game skid, according to ESPN.
"It's the most consistent thing they've got. That might come [back] and bite me one day."
Since then, the Eagles have bounced back with consecutive victories against the Minnesota Vikings, who took an innovative but unsuccessful approach to stopping the play, and the Giants, who were irate after a controversial forward progress ruling on a tush push wiped away a Jalen Hurts fumble.
LaFleur made it clear that the Packers' defense will have its own plan to defend the tush push Monday, although he didn't divulge what that would be, of course.
He was also asked why he shifted away from using the play on offense after mixing it in during the 2023 season.
"Every team's built a little bit differently, and, for me, it's always, 'Do you want your quarterback subject to some of those hits that he could potentially face in those situations?'" LaFleur said.
LaFleur's opinion on the tush push resurfaced as a hot topic Thursday with the Eagles coming to town in four days for a marquee NFC matchup. But he made sure to also talk about what kind of Philadelphia team he's preparing for, as he heaped praise on the 6-2 Eagles, who he believes are better than their rushing and defensive stats indicate.
"It's a very difficult team, on both sides of the football and even on special teams as well," LaFleur said. "I do think they're a complete football team. And sometimes the numbers kind of get skewed in regards to what you actually are seeing on tape."