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Seth WickershamMay 21, 2025, 03:23 PM ET
- Senior Writer for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine
- Joined ESPN The Magazine after graduating from the University of Missouri.
- Although he primarily covers the NFL, his assignments also have taken him to the Athens Olympics, the World Series, the NCAA tournament and the NHL and NBA playoffs.
Debate over the tush push led to a heated exchange between NFL owners and league executives Wednesday morning during the league meeting in Eagan, Minnesota, multiple sources with firsthand knowledge told ESPN.
The discussion occurred during what is called a "general session," which is attended by owners as well as team and league executives.
Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie made an impassioned speech in defense of the play. The Eagles and the NFL declined comment, but sources close to Lurie told ESPN that he had seen reports from earlier in the day that tush push was going to be banned, and so he figured the odds of the play's survival were long.
"He pulled out all the stops," one source close to Lurie told ESPN. "He knew he needed to throw a Hail Mary."
Toward the end of a speech that lasted close to an hour, Lurie made an off-the-cuff analogy. He told the room that regardless of whether the play was banned, it was a "win-win" for the Eagles, adding that it was "like a wet dream for a teenage boy" to create a play that was so successful that the only way for it to be stopped was for it to be banned.
Lurie spoke for several more minutes, adding that whoever voted to ban the play would be taking liability for putting quarterbacks at risk. He criticized NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent for advocating the ban, adding that he had spoken to NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills at length about the play.
After Lurie finished speaking, Vincent chastised the Eagles owner for the "wet dream" comment, specifically for saying it in front of women in the meeting.
Eagles assistant general manager John Ferrari and former Eagles star center Jason Kelce, currently an ESPN analyst, addressed the room next. Kelce said that he would return to the NFL if he could run 60 tush pushes a game.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones asked a few questions, while Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula -- a critic of the tush push -- said his team was good at the play and still supported banning it.
An hour had passed when San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York asked Lurie "how much more s---" he needed to say.
There were a few scattered laughs, but the room was quiet and tense. Goodell then adjourned to the "privileged session," which is attended by owners and top league executives. The ban failed, by a vote of 22-10, falling two votes shy of the 24 needed to ban the play.
