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The NFL has admitted that the Philadelphia Eagles should have been called for a penalty over their controversial 'tush push.'
The Eagles used their signature play six times during their Super Bowl rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs at the weekend, including on the game-sealing touchdown.
However, the league has now issued a warning to officials after it deemed that the Super Bowl champions should have been called for a false start on one of their 'tush push' plays on Sunday.
In its officials' training tape sent to all 32 teams, the NFL referred to the Eagles' 'tush push' play on a 3rd-and-1 play with 5:29 remaining in the fourth quarter against the Chiefs.
Philadelphia successfully converted a first down but the NFL has now admitted that it should have been called for a false start.
The league also urged its officials to call 'these plays tight' moving forward, issuing a reminder that players need to be aligned legally before the snap, according to CBS Sports.
The NFL admitted that the Eagles should have been called for a penalty on a 'tush push'
The league (pictured commissioner Roger Goodell) urged its officials to be tighter
'We want to make sure that we officiate these plays tight and make sure that every aspect of the offensive team is legal and any movement… that's not correct, we want to shut it down as a false start,' the NFL said on its training tape.
The controversial play sparked multiple calls to be banned as many fans claimed to have noticed movement across the offensive line before several of Philly's uses against the Chiefs.
'The Eagles commit about 5 penalties during a Tush Push, and the NFL just doesn't call them. Center is offsides, guards false start. Ban the play,' one said.
'Ban the Tush Push. It is illegal,' another said.
'It's a false start. Every single time. If you won't take the play away, at least officiate it appropriately. False start on both the LG [left guard, Landon Dickeron] and RG [right guard, Tyler Steen] on this Eagles touchdown,' a third wrote, sharing a video of Hurts' late touchdown dive.
And it wasn't just fans that had criticism of how the play was (or wasn't) officiated on Sunday.
During FOX's broadcast of the game, Tom Brady said: 'The Brotherly Shove is awfully impossible to stop, and when you get a false start penalty like that, it's even harder to stop, and they missed that one pretty bad.'
The play has been frequently and successfully used by the Eagles since they began employing it several years ago.
Tom Brady also criticized the officiating of the play and said a false start should have been called
According to ESPN, 65 of the 101 tush push calls last season came from the Eagles and Bills combined, and Philly scored 27 touchdowns using it across the 2022-2024 seasons.
That led to the Packers proposing to outlaw the play during the offseason, as they cited pace of play and player safety as reasons for a ban (there is currently not conclusive data that the play leads to injuries).
The proposal aimed to prohibit 'an offensive player from pushing, pulling, lifting or assisting the runner except by individually blocking opponents for him.'
Green Bay also called for a loss of 10 yards for violation of the potential rule.
The proposal needed 24 of 32 teams to approve the ban at an owners meeting in May, but narrowly failed.
Ultimately, only 22 teams voted to ban the tush push, while the Eagles and nine other franchises voted in the other direction.
Those teams were the Ravens, Browns, Lions, Jaguars, Dolphins, Patriots, Saints, Jets and Titans.
