Eagles

When Sean Payton is on the Right Side of Tush Push History, You Know the Entire Thing is Fugazi

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Feb 25th, 2026 · 10:42 AM EST

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Rare W from known jerk Sean Payton at the NFL Combine:

Sean Payton says if the NFL ever eliminated the “tush push” it won’t be because of health and safety. It’ll be because “we don’t like it.” He said: “Last year, we spent two hours on health and safety on the (tush push) and then added 1,000 kickoffs. … Sometimes your BS meter… pic.twitter.com/7F2tzP0hAR

— Rob Maaddi (@RobMaaddi) February 24, 2026

“I think if we choose to ever move on from that, it won’t be because of health and safety, it will just be like ‘we don’t like it,’ which is okay.”

Yes, thank you. If the calls to ban the shove after the 2024 season were honest, then maybe it would have passed. Instead, we were fed bullshit like health and safety and “pace of play” and all of these things that were disingenuous. Everybody knew that other teams wanted to get rid of the play because it was a significant advantage for the Eagles, and/or it was not aesthetically pleasing. They saw it as a boring play that fans of the 31 other NFL teams did not enjoy.

Payton is just asking people to be truthful. And his last three words are key – “which is okay.” If the league doesn’t like it, they don’t like it. That’s fine. But come out and say that you don’t like it instead of hiding behind fake reasons for expunging.

Of course, there’s no proposal to ban the tush push this season because the Eagles weren’t as good at it. Defenses did a better job handling it. It wasn’t an unstoppable play, as Nick wrote on the site Tuesday.