Contrasting Packers' efforts to ban play, 'purist' Dan Campbell has no issue with Eagles' signature Tush Push

Allen Park — On Halloween, the head coaches of the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers were both asked playful questions about the holiday at the end of their daily media sessions. If it wasn’t clear prior, the stark personality difference between the two franchise leaders was hammered home by their responses.

Packers coach Matt LaFleur chose the football guy approach.

“(It’s) Halloween, huh?” LaFleur said. “We’ve got a big discussion with my assistant, Darryl. I was like, ‘I don’t give a shit if it’s Halloween, all right? We’re trying to win a game. Period.’ …It’s a Friday in the National Football League, that’s what day it is.”

Campbell, on the other hand, had no problem poking fun at his embarrassing costume decisions from the past, sharing a story about going as Marilyn Monroe one year.

“Alcohol helps,” Campbell quipped.

The cherry on top was Campbell’s wife, Holly, sharing a photo from that night on social media within hours.

The contrast between LaFleur and Campbell comes into focus again this week after the two teams play the Philadelphia Eagles back-to-back.

This offseason, LaFleur’s Packers made a strong effort to have the league ban the Eagles’ renowned “Tush Push,” a highly efficient sneak where quarterback Jalen Hurts is propelled forward by teammates pushing him from behind.

Asked to revisit the topic ahead of a Monday night matchup with the Eagles, LaFleur didn’t have much to say.

“I’m not going to get into it,” LaFleur said. “It is what it is. The NFL made a decision, and we have to find a way to try to stop the play, and it’s a tough play to stop.”

The Packers may have led the charge in getting the play outlawed, but they were hardly alone in the opinion, with other teams supporting the idea. Campbell and the Lions weren’t among them.

Campbell has been consistently against banning the Tush Push, putting the onus on his defense to find a way to stop it. On Wednesday, he elaborated further on why he doesn’t want to see the league remove the play.

“I’m a purist, man,” Campbell said. “You take something else out of the game, then we’re taking the next thing out of the game, then you’re taking another thing out of the game. And pretty soon, we don’t have pads anymore. Pretty soon, you’re only playing thirty minutes. …So, I don’t want to take it out of the game.

“A team’s got a niche, they found something, they’re good at it, and it’s for everybody else to stop,” Campbell continued. “It’s unique and it’s physical. More than anything, I just don’t want to take anything else out of the game. I just want to leave the game alone. That’s me.”

The Lions haven’t played the Eagles since the 2022 opener, a game they coincidentally lost by three points when they couldn’t stop the Eagles’ signature play in the closing minutes, allowing the opposition to run out the clock.

But given there was a chance for the sides to meet in the postseason each of the past two seasons, Campbell said he’s been toying with ideas on how to stop the play.

“It’s always come up in conversations with us, kind of, ‘What would you do? How would you handle it?’ There again, there’s nothing easy about it,” Campbell said. “I mean, look, every team can say they’ve got something and then they run it on everybody and have success. They’ve mastered it, they play with leverage, they know the snap count, and then they’ve got a couple of curveballs off of it.

“You’ve got to be careful,” Campbell said. “If it’s an all-out sellout with 11 people, then they’re off on the perimeter. But we’ve talked about it. Look, we know. We’ve got a plan. We’ve got an idea. You’ve got to execute. And if you don’t, you’ve got to line up and do it again if it comes up again and just find a way to stop them. Hopefully, it’s a critical. If you end up getting three or four of them in a game, maybe it’s that one that you stop that changes the whole game.”

How good have the Eagles been in short-yardage situations this season? Well, when needed two or fewer yards on third or fourth down, they’ve run the ball 17 times and converted on 15 of those.

However, the Detroit defense has been solid in those situations, getting stops on eight of 16 tries.

If there’s one thing you shouldn’t anticipate, it’s the Lions flipping the script and incorporating the Tush Push into their offensive playbook. Campbell might love the physicality of the play, but not enough to have his guys practice it several times each week.

“I just know me, and if it’s something that I really want to do, then I want to invest in it,” Campbell said. “That means that I want to practice it. I want to work it. When you start talking about, ‘All right, we’re going to rep this about four or five times a day guys, line up, put your nose about an inch from the ground,’ it’s a little different when you start thinking in those terms. But we’ve talked about it, we’ve tinkered in practice every once in a while, just not quite there. We’ve got some other things we like and we can do.”

The Lions are 11-for-14 when running the ball on third and fourth down, needing two or fewer yards. However, they’ve leaned heavily on throwing the ball in those situations this season, going that route 25 times and converting on just 13.