WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The Green Bay Packers' proposal to ban the push sneak, popularly known as the tush push, has support within the competition committee, a source with direct knowledge told ESPN on Sunday.

Another source with direct knowledge of competition committee thinking said the proposal would be "hotly contested" among the coaches, general managers and owners as they gather for league meetings this week.

The league office staff presented the rules proposals during the football operations meeting Sunday afternoon, and two sources in the meeting described the back and forth as "heated" regarding the proposal 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."

During the Sunday afternoon session, Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, assistant general manager Jon Ferrari and two head coaches on the competition committee, Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams and Sean McDermott of the Buffalo Bills, gathered in a hallway outside of the ballroom to have a private and animated side conversation about the Packers' proposal.

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has not spoken publicly about the team's proposal, and declined to comment on it when approached by ESPN on Sunday afternoon. Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst also declined a question from ESPN on Sunday. "I'll leave that for someone else to talk about," he said.

Teams putting forth a proposal will often save their argument for the day of voting, which in this case, will be Tuesday morning.

Green Bay listed two reasons within its proposal to prohibit the play the Eagles have made famous: player safety and pace of play. Multiple sources who have been in competition committee meetings about the play told ESPN there was no injury data to support the ban, but rather a hypothetical conversation centered on potential injuries.

The league presented the injury risk of the push sneak based on data modeling, saying defensive players are at risk while launching head-first, and offensive linemen at risk because of their bent posture operating in a narrow window, which could lead to neck injuries.

"It's not backed by data," one club executive said. "It was all subjective."

Another source in the competition committee meetings said that "it's not about player safety. It's just a different play and it just looks different."

The tush push has had critics around the league since the Eagles debuted the play during the 2022 season. Coaches, executives and players have argued it's not a football play, with some comparing it to a rugby play.

This is the third offseason that the competition committee has reviewed the play, but the first time a club has submitted a rules proposal aimed at eliminating or restricting it. The first source with knowledge of competition committee thinking said a "s--- show" series in the NFC Championship Game between the Washington Commanders and Eagles helped build momentum toward the current rules proposal.

During the fourth quarter of that game, the Commanders committed four defensive penalties (one offsides, three encroachment) on six consecutive push sneak plays that started at their 1-yard line, preferring to take the yardage penalty at such a short distance (half the distance) to surrendering a touchdown. The Eagles replayed second down four times, in a sequence that took a minute off the game clock and prompted referee Shawn Hochuli to make an official warning to the Commanders that if they committed another "palpably unfair act," he would award the Eagles a touchdown. The Eagles scored a touchdown on the sixth tush push attempt.

"That's more because of the look of the play," said the source who was in competition committee meetings. "To the folks that know how they want football to look on Sundays to the [fans]. Do [fans] want that play run 50 times down the field?"

But only two teams, Philadelphia and Buffalo, ran the push sneak more than five times last season. And of the 35,415 total plays last season, the push sneak accounted for only 101 of those plays, 0.28%.

"The thing that nobody likes about the discussion we are having and the question you just asked, is that the rule is directed towards two teams," Atlanta Falcons CEO and competition committee chairman Rich McKay said. "We have rules that come in about some play or some tactic or something that was never contemplated and all of a sudden was introduced, and there is a rule put up to say maybe we shouldn't have that tactic or that play, so I don't think any of us like the fact that there are teams associated with this rule proposal."

The competition committee doesn't screen or limit the number of rules proposals before they are raised for conversation at owners meetings.

"There's no lens that we look at, or filter, for any club proposal," McKay added. "Any club is allowed to propose whatever they want and then we [competition committee] will take a position, but we are only individual votes by our clubs, and then they have to get to 24 to pass."

One club source told ESPN that their team would be voting against the proposal because they don't believe the proposal is "honest about the reason."

An NFL head coach told ESPN he thinks the proposal is motivated by pettiness because some clubs don't have quarterbacks capable of running a push sneak.

"It's weak," the club executive said. "It's punishing a team who became excellent at executing the play. In 2022, when Philadelphia was the only team doing it, there was a concern that it made the game less compelling because fourth-and-short was no longer in doubt. Then other teams copied it, and they can't do it as well.

"It reeks of jealousy."

After the competition committee session ended Sunday, Dallas Cowboys co-owner Stephen Jones explained the committee's view on examining the play, and the Packers proposal.

"We're looking for consistency as a committee, and we don't allow pushing," Jones said. "We don't allow the linebackers to push the defensive linemen on extra points and we're just trying to be consistent. These quarterbacks, I'm sure they would be wildly successful whether you're pushed or not. I'm sure [Jalen Hurts] he'll make first downs at a high rate, whether someone's pushing him or not, because he's an inordinately strong special athlete. So we're just trying to be consistent with the rule. Green Bay really brought something to our attention that we felt like certainly needs to be vetted in the meeting room and amongst the owners and see where we come out on it."

Jones and New York Giants owner John Mara, two division-opponent owners of the Eagles, both sit on the competition committee.

Does Jones think it's fair that this proposal appears to target one team, the most recent Super Bowl champion?

"I think it's just being consistent with our rules, and I think Green Bay brought this to our attention, and that's what we're looking at as a committee, and certainly membership will weigh in on it," he said.

There is plenty of gray area as the rules proposal is written now:

"No offensive player may immediately at the snap, push or throw his body against a teammate, who was lined up directly behind the snapper and received the snap, to aid him in an attempt to gain yardage."

Said one NFL general manager: "They can't regulate every successful play that a team comes up with. If it passes, it'll be rewritten about six times. How do you determine what 'immediately' is? You're allowed to push a running back on the perimeter?"

Another club executive said he needed more information on what such details meant before his club decided on how it would vote.

NFL Network reported the Eagles expect to have allies in former Philadelphia coordinators who are now head coaches for other clubs, Kellen Moore with the New Orleans Saints, Shane Steichen with the Indianapolis Colts and Jonathan Gannon with the Arizona Cardinals.

"All I will say about it is Gannon, Steichen and Moore better vote for it," coach Nick Sirianni told NFL Network. "They are in the [head coach] position right now because of that play. So all three, I better have those three votes right there and the Eagles' vote. I at least know we have four."

The owners of all 32 clubs are expected to vote on all proposals Tuesday morning.