Leave it to Jerry Jones to say the quiet part out loud in his Arkansan drawl, flashing a champion’s smile to confirm he’s dead serious.

In the contentious debate between billionaire owners accustomed to getting what they want — and taking more than they need — the topic of whether to blackball the “Tush Push,” brought to fame by the Eagles, became heated in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning.

But it was Jones, longtime Cowboys owner and noted rival of division bully Philadelphia, who helped those not allowed to witness the real-time debate get to the heart of the hand-fighting and “yeah, but” arguments.

“Here we are, the world champion is the main focus of the Tush Push, and here we are debating it, having to decide. I thought, am I really against the Tush Push, or just don’t want Philadelphia to have an edge?” Jones said after the proposal, brought by the Packers, failed to pass — with just 10 votes in support of keeping the play and 22 opposed.

Any rules change in the NFL requires 24 of 32 teams to vote in favor.

The Buffalo Bills, who run the rugby-scrum-style play second-most in the NFL behind the Eagles, were among the 22 voting to eliminate it. Owner Terry Pegula was truly in the minority with his well-reasoned explanation: he was concerned it could lead to injury.

Jones gave an honest assessment of where his heart was when it came time to vote. He selfishly wanted to eliminate a goal-line and short-yardage weapon for the NFC East-rival Eagles — a play with a success rate of more than 86% — but his conscience had other ideas.

“I flip flop,” Jones said with a laugh.

The vote was close enough that the issue will likely resurface at future meetings, likely in a refined form masked as an effort to protect blockers, nose tackles and ball carriers.

But one reason the play remains on Eagles coach Nick Sirianni’s call sheet for another year is a cameo from his former center, Jason Kelce, who gave a first-person account of what it’s like at the fulcrum of the one-yard fight. Kelce previously weighed in on the ban conversation during an episode of “The Steam Room” podcast — comments that were picked up by Pegula and Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy. At the NFL owners’ meeting in March, Murphy said Kelce “didn’t want to be involved in the play anymore because he felt it was pretty dangerous.”

Pegula echoed that sentiment — though many felt his remark, made after the fact, was in jest — suggesting wear and tear from the play contributed to Kelce’s retirement.

The music stopped Wednesday when Kelce appeared to clarify things himself, telling owners — with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie standing by — that he’d run the play 60 times a game.

Only feelings were hurt in what has been reported as a heated exchange to close an otherwise uneventful NFL session in Minnesota.

Now the challenge is for Jones and the rest of the league to figure out how to stop the play — on the field.