Eagles Propose Four New NFL Rules, No Sign of Tush Push Ban By League
The NFL announced the rules changes that were proposed by teams for consideration at the NFL Annual League Meeting at the end of the month.
The Eagles proposed four new rules and procedural changes for 2024 to be voted on by the team owners. Three of them were solo proposals and one was a joint proposal.
The most intriguing is the proposal to replace onside kicks. Just one onside kick was successfully recovered by the kicking team in 2023. The Eagles proposed that instead of an onside kick, a team can instead attempt a 4th and 20 play, with the ball spotted at the scoring team’s own 20 yard line. If the team converts to a first down, they get to keep the ball.
The Eagles proposed a similar rule last offseason, but failed to garner support among the owners to push it through.
Also reintroduced by the team was a proposal to compel game clocks to display tenths of seconds. While the game clocks in most sports display this information, the NFL only requires clocks to display full seconds.
The Eagles also proposed two other changes. One eliminates the first touching spot on punts when the receiving team possesses the football. The other, which was signed onto by five other teams, moves the trade deadline back two weeks to after Week 10. The Pittsburgh Steelers separately proposed moving the trade deadline to after Week 9.
Amid wide in-season speculation that teams or the NFL Competition Committee would seek to ban the “Brotherly Shove,” also referred to as the tush push quarterback sneak play that the Eagles perfected, no owner submitted a proposal to ban the play. The most controversial proposal came from the Indianapolis Colts, which proposed that all fouls should be reviewable within the final two minutes of the game. This came following Colts Owner Jeff Irsay’s openly critical view of NFL officials following a blown call at the end of the Colts’ matchup against the Browns this season.
“The NFL admits and understands that they did not make the correct calls at end of Sunday’s Colts/Browns Game,” Irsay tweeted. “I believe we need to institute Instant Replay for all calls, including Penalties, in the last two minutes of All Games.”
The NFL’s Competition Committee also releases proposals for review and approval at the annual meeting. The committee’s proposals have not yet been released.
