Sources - Tempers flare as Eagles defend tush push in heated debate - ESPN

Debate over the tush push led to a heated exchange between NFL owners and league executives Wednesday morning during the league meeting in Eagan, Minn., multiple sources with firsthand knowledge told ESPN.

The discussion occurred during of what is called a «general session,» which is attended by owners, and team and league executives.

Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie made an impassioned speech in defense of the play. The Eagles and the NFL declined comment, but sources close to Lurie told ESPN that he had seen reports from earlier in the day that tush push was going to be banned, and so he figured the odds of the play's survival were long.

«He pulled out all the stops,» one source close to Lurie told ESPN. «He knew he needed to throw a Hail Mary.»

Toward the end of a speech that lasted close to an hour, Lurie made an off-the-cuff analogy. He told the room that regardless of whether the play was banned, it was a «win-win» for the Eagles, adding that it was «like a wet dream for a teenage boy» to create a play that was so successful that the only way for it to be stopped was for it to be banned.

Lurie spoke for several more minutes, adding that whoever voted to ban the play would be taking liability for putting quarterbacks at risk. He criticized NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent for advocating the ban, adding that he had spoken to NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills at length about the play.

After Lurie finished speaking, Vincent chastised the Eagles owner for the «wet dream» comment, specifically for saying it in front of women in the meeting.

Eagles assistant general manager John Ferrari and former Eagles star center Jason Kelce, currently an ESPN