{"id":775865,"date":"2026-02-25T17:11:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T17:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/775865\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T17:11:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T17:11:20","slug":"sean-paytons-bs-meter-went-up-over-nfls-tush-push-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/775865\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Payton’s ‘BS Meter’ went up over NFL’s Tush Push fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

This one doesn\u2019t pass the sniff test for Sean Payton.<\/p>\n

The Broncos coach called bull on the notion that eliminating the controversial Tush Push would stem from health and safety concerns, citing how the league changed its kickoff rules to create more action, which, in turn, led to what he estimated to be more than a thousand extra collisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that ever goes away, it\u2019s not a health and safety thing, right?\u201d Payton, a member of the league\u2019s competition committee, said Tuesday during the NFL Scouting Combine<\/a> in Indianapolis. \u201cWe discussed that last year for two hours and we just adopted a thousand more kick returns. Which play do you think is more of a health risk? A thousand more kick returns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if we choose to ever move on from that it won\u2019t be because of health and safety, it will just be because we don\u2019t like it, which is OK. \u2026 Every once in a while, your BS meter goes up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DenverSean Payton speaks to reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine on Feb. 24, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

The Tush Push has become perhaps the NFL\u2019s most polarizing topic, with the league even voting last year on whether to eliminate the play, but fell two votes short of the 75 percent threshold.<\/p>\n

NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent told reporters Tuesday <\/a>that no team submitted a proposal calling for a ban.<\/p>\n

The Eagles most utilize the rushing play, in which the quarterback is helped by his teammates in a rugby-like manner, although more teams have attempted the tactic in recent years but have not replicated that level of success.<\/p>\n

While Philadelphia faithful will say the call to ban it stems from the haters, others will point to referees struggling to call the play consistently and how it\u2019s more of a rugby tactic than football. The official reason cited by many is the health and safety concerns behind the play.<\/p>\n

The play leads to plenty of high-impact collisions in close proximity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a doctor, so I\u2019m not gonna get too deep into that situation in terms of how much data, how much sample,\u201d former Bills coach Sean McDermott said last March, as transcribed by Pro Football Talk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s other data out there that when you\u2019re in a posture like we\u2019re talking about, that can lead to serious injury. I think being\u00a0responsible and proactive\u00a0in that regard is the right way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PhiladelphiaThe Eagles run the Tush Push against hte Giants in October 2025. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

Teams used the Tush Push 112 times last season, up from 101 during the previous campaign, per ESPN.<\/p>\n

The play\u2019s effectiveness dipped, though, with teams notching a first down when using the tactic just 75 percent of the time compared to 82 percent from 2022-24.<\/p>\n

Standout Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata pushed back against those citing the controversial play for a reason why the Eagles beat the Chiefs this past September<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand the outrage. What I don\u2019t understand is them using it as an excuse to why we won the game. I think it\u2019s incredibly disrespectful to our defense and our special teams who balled out,\u201d Mailata said on 94 WIP. \u201cMy brothers on defense and special teams who balled out that game, who had our backs when we weren\u2019t moving the ball or weren\u2019t doing anything. When I see those things, they fly across my timeline, here and there \u2026. that kind of irks me a little bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat pisses me off because we give so much to this game and to kind of base off a short-yardage play, that is a football play, and say that we won the game off that, but not how our defense played and not how our special teams have played, putting us in those positions. I think it\u2019s bullcrap. \u2026 I just think it\u2019s rubbish. Absolute rubbish, man. It makes my blood boil just thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This one doesn\u2019t pass the sniff test for Sean Payton. The Broncos coach called bull on the notion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[258,25,7,6,242,109,2476,1813,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-775865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-eagles","8":"tag-denver-broncos","9":"tag-eagles","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","14":"tag-philadelphiaeagles","15":"tag-sean-payton","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116132387136035855","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}