The Philadelphia Eagles' mastered "tush push" play has raised plenty of controversy over the past couple of NFL seasons.
The Green Bay Packers recently proposed a rule to ban the unique quarterback sneak, seemingly speaking up for what other organizations long have felt about the play.
As a former player, 49ers general manager John Lynch has a unique perspective. In his first year on the NFL Competition Committee, Lynch shared his true feelings about the play while speaking to reporters Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine.
"I don't want to speak out of both sides of my mouth, I've always been a proponent, but if you don't like it, stop it," Lynch said. "But I have my own feelings on that play and I long have, it's not real pretty to watch. I think back to my playing days and I think that might've made me do things that I wouldn't be proud of because if they aren't going to stop it, I'll stop it. That kind of trickles into players that have a certain mentality's head and I'm just being truthful there. And so I hope that's never the case.
"The competition committee, I've been really impressed the way they go about things. You go right down the line, let's talk about it, for the game of football, the aesthetics of it. But let's talk about, first and foremost is always health and safety. There's probably not enough significant data to show that, yeah, a lot of people are getting injured on this play. There is, I think, a fear that something serious could happen on that play just because of the dynamics of it. And I think part of everyone’s involved job is to make tough decisions before that ever happens.
"And so that's something they're weighing. There's great discussion and I think that discussion will go to the owners meeting in Florida here in the coming weeks and should be interesting and a lot of strong opinions on both sides."
The play, which originated in Philadelphia, has players line up behind Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and shove him across the goal line for a touchdown or a successful conversion.
San Francisco 49ers
It has been massively effective for the Eagles, who used it during their 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX. While it's been a successful part of their offense, it's annoying for the team lined up against them each and every time.
As expected, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni pushed back against Green Bay's proposal to ban the play they worked "really, really hard" to perfect.
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The back-and-forth debate likely will continue over the next month-plus, and team owners could vote on it when they meet next month on March 30 in Palm Beach, Fla.
