Two major changes could be coming to the NFL as early as next week. NFL team owners are\u00a0set to vote\u00a0on a playoff reseeding proposal and a tush push ban at league meetings in Minneapolis, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.<\/p>\n
Both issues were considered at the owners meetings in March. And while\u00a0spirited discussions\u00a0took place \u2014 particularly\u00a0around the tush push\u00a0\u2014 NFL franchise owners decided to push both proposals down the road. After a few months, that vote will finally take place.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0playoff-reseeding proposal\u00a0would drastically alter the NFL postseason if adopted. The proposal \u2014 which was originally put forward by the\u00a0Detroit Lions\u00a0\u2014 seeks to seed teams based on record at the start of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
That’s not the way the NFL operates. Under the current playoff-seeding system, division winners receive the top-4 seeds in each conference. The wild-card teams are then seeded by record. This can lead to scenarios where a 9-8 team that wins a division is seeded higher than an 11-6 team that finished second in its division. As a result, that 11-6 team \u2014 despite winning more games in the regular season \u2014 has to go on the road for the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
If the Lions’ proposal is adopted, that 11-6 wild-card team would have a higher seed in the playoffs than the 9-8 team that won its division. As a result, the wild-card team would be the home team during the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
The proposal could have a major impact on the NFL postseason. If the Lions’ proposal was adopted last year, the\u00a0Minnesota Vikings, who won 14 games, would have hosted a playoff game in the first round. Instead, the team went on the road to play the\u00a0Los Angeles Rams, which won 10 games last season. The Vikings were upset in the contest and knocked out of the playoffs after just one game.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the\u00a0Green Bay Packers, who won 11 games last season, would have been the No. 5 seed instead of the No. 7 seed. The team would have still been required to play a game on the road in the first round of the playoffs, but wouldn’t have had to face off against the No. 2 seed\u00a0Philadelphia Eagles\u00a0immediately. Like the Vikings, the Packers lost that game and were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round.<\/p>\n
The Lions made some tweaks to the proposal ahead of next week’s meeting. As part of the updated proposal, teams would be reseeded after the first round. In that scenario, the No. 1 overall seed would play the lowest seed left after the first round of the playoffs. Under the current system, the No. 1 overall seed plays the winner of the No. 4 seed vs. the No. 5 seed every year.<\/p>\n
The proposal to ban the tush push is self-explanatory. The Packers introduced the proposal ahead of the March meetings. It seeks to “prohibit an offensive player from pushing a teammate who was lined up directly behind the snapper and receives the snap, immediately at the snap.” The proposal doesn’t use the term “tush push,” but it’s clearly describing the play.<\/p>\n
The Eagles first introduced and popularized the tush push during the 2022 NFL season. When the team is faced with a short-yardage situation, it runs a modified quarterback sneak, in which\u00a0Jalen Hurts\u00a0grabs the snap and pushes his way across the first-down marker. Two players typically line up in the backfield and shove Hurts forward, helping him secure a first down.<\/p>\n
While other clubs have adopted the play, no team runs it as well as the Eagles. Philadelphia, who is coming off its first Super Bowl win since 2018, is \u2014 not surprisingly \u2014 among the clubs\u00a0opposed to banning\u00a0the play.<\/p>\n
The May proposal is unchanged from the one the Packers suggested ahead of the March meetings.<\/p>\n
Both proposals need approval from at least 24 of 32 team votes to pass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two major changes could be coming to the NFL as early as next week. NFL team owners are\u00a0set to vote\u00a0on a playoff reseeding proposal and a tush… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n