Report Reveals Ravens Played Crucial Role in Controversial ‘Tush Push’ Vote, what Influence Did They Really Have?

The so-called “Tush Push” will still be a feature of the NFL in 2025, thanks in no small part to the Baltimore Ravens. They were among four notable teams, including an historic rival from the AFC, who voted against banning the controversial play.

That’s according to Pro Football Talk’s Josh Alper and “multiple reports” naming the Ravens, New England Patriots, New York Jets and Detroit Lions. They all did the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, the league’s most prolific purveyors of the tush push, a huge favor.

Alper explained why “none of those votes should come as a surprise to those who have followed the discourse around the proposal over the last few months. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh called it a football play and Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said you can’t ban a play for being hard to defend. Lions head coach Dan Campbell said it’s up to other teams to stop the offense and Jets head coach Aaron Glenn, who was Campbell’s defensive coordinator the last few seasons, shared a similar view.”

Perhaps the Ravens were also motivated by planning further use of their own version of this automatic tactic for both short-yardage and goal-line situations.

Ravens Helped Protect Contentious Play

The Ravens were far from alone in voting against the play the Eagles have made famous. A total of 10 franchises formed the dissenters, also including the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore’s AFC North rivals the Cleveland Browns, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

A couple of things stand out from this list. First, the presence of three teams from the AFC East. The Dolphins, Jets and Patriots have to battle the Buffalo Bills twice a season, and the Bills have used the tush push at a rate to rival the Eagles in recent seasons.

As ESPN detailed, the Bills and Eagles “combined to run 163 tush pushes, in which a team lines up one or more players behind the quarterback to push him forward against the defense, the past three seasons — more than the rest of the NFL combined, according to ESPN Research. The Eagles and Bills have scored a touchdown or achieved a first down on 87% of their attempts using the play, while the rest of the NFL has been successful on just 71%, per ESPN Research.”

The Ravens found themselves on the receiving end of Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen’s affinity with the play during last season’s Divisional Playoffs. Allen’s success had 13WHAM’s Mike Catalana baffled about “the Bills opposition to the TP play. Yes I know the Chiefs stopped it in AFC title game, but Josh Allen is an absolute weapon with the play. Plus the Bills rivals do not/cannot run it. Chiefs Ravens Bengals Dolphins.”

The Bills get to keep one of their best weapons, despite themselves, but Catalana wasn’t quite right about the Ravens being among those not able to run the tush push.

Ravens Have Their Own Version of the Tush Push

Baltimore QB1 Lamar Jackson doesn’t have Allen’s 6-foot-5, 237-pound frame to muscle his way between the tackles. Yet, that doesn’t mean the Ravens are unable to run their own version of the tush push.

In fact, the way the Ravens execute the push-style play proved highly efficient in 2024. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken simply swapped out his quarterback for a beefier runner.

Tight ends like 250-pounder Mark Andrews and 267-pound Charlie Kolar were the best options. They helped the Ravens go “4-for-5 on Tush Push plays last year,” per The Baltimore Banner’s Jonas Shaffer.

There’s some irony here since Andrews endured his own nightmare when Allen and the Bills ran over the Ravens in the postseason. Buffalo took the W by winning the physical battles, something the Ravens will be keen to change in 2025.

The change will have to involve having an answer for Allen and the tush push when the Ravens go after revenge in Week 1.