FOX rules expert Mike Pereira says potential banning of 'tush push' is 'being looked at'

Few plays in NFL history have become as ubiquitous as the tush push, but could the powerful quarterback sneak play be outlawed in the sport in the coming years?

That’s a conversation that FOX Sports rules expert Mike Pereira believes will begin to take place again in light of a highly controversial sequence in the NFC Championship Game.

Pereira, speaking at the Super Bowl LIX media festivities, said there could be renewed consideration of a tush push ban.

“I think it will be a conversation. I think what happened in the championship game was ugly,” Pereira said, according to the Washington Post’s Mark Maske. “I think with the ugliness of that, they’ll take a further look at it… I think it’ll continue being looked at, that maybe at somewhere down the road making a change.”

The tush push was the central play in a controversy in the NFC Championship Game between the Washington Commanders and Philadelphia Eagles that saw a little-known rule invoked.

After running back Saquon Barkley carried the ball down inside the 2-yard line, Philadelphia set up to run its now famous “tush push.”

The Commanders, in an attempt to stop the play from scoring, went about things in an interesting fashion. Linebacker Frankie Luvu crashed the play hard trying to anticipate the snap count, launching over the line and hitting quarterback Jalen Hurts.

He did it once and the penalty was awarded for half the distance to the goal. Then he did it again. Officials noted that the Commanders had been warned about the behavior.

On the following snap, a different player in the middle of the line jumped early and was penalized for encroachment, the third straight play that the Commanders had been flagged for a pre-snap penalty.

This time, the head referee took an even more stark approach after multiple attempts at the tush push.

“Encroachment, defense No. 93,” Shawn Hochuli said. “Washington has been advised that at some point the referee can award a score if this type of behavior happens again. For now, it’s a replay of second down.”

That announcement caught everyone off guard. Referees can simply award a touchdown? Apparently so.

But what was lost in the discussion is how difficult it is to stop the tush push and whether it should be allowed in the first place. Could the play be removed from the sport soon?

It sounds like league officials might at least have a conversation about just that very soon.