The Philadelphia Eagles’ “revolutionary” Tush Push play is starting to (rightfully) ruffle a lot of feathers around the NFL.
Any time Philadelphia faces a third or fourth and short, they usually resort to having two players line up behind Jalen Hurts on a quarterback sneak before both help push the quarterback past the sticks.
The use of the play was particularly egregious against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday Night Football when Philadelphia used it to effectively ice a 31-17 win in the fourth quarter. It essentially eliminated all drama of what was building up to be a classic primetime affair. And the more the Eagles utilize the play (that is cheap and antithetical to the sport’s spirit), the more fervor seems to grow around the NFL to find a way to ban it in the offseason.
After the Eagles’ victory, head coach Nick Sirianni was asked about the league potentially banning the Tush Push. He leaned on the fact that seemingly only the Eagles can do it well (false) and even broke the fourth wall to tell everyone that reality:
“People can’t do it like we can do it.”#Eagles coach Nick Sirianni with a passionate defense of the Brotherly Shove, noting one of the cold, hard facts: Few other teams can do it. pic.twitter.com/NcTArwCN71
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 23, 2023
Sirianni does have a point, but I have a feeling his pleas won’t amount to anything. (Also, it places players in an unsafe position in an already extremely dangerous game, and the Eagles aren’t that much better at it than everyone else. They just use it more.)
The Eagles are kind of exploiting segments of the NFL rulebook by continually using the Tush Push. It is simply a variation of the “assisting the runner” penalty, which most pro football officials don’t usually call — because it’s really difficult to judge — but they should start. No one is technically “pulling or carrying” Jalen Hurts for first downs, but it is tantamount to the same effect. If the NFL doesn’t ban it, they will almost certainly start making it a point of emphasis next fall with something like the “assisting the runner” call as a basis.
This is football, folks, not a rugby scrum.
If Hurts is so strong in short yardage the way Sirianni and anyone in Philadelphia claim, perhaps he and the Eagles should just learn to do regular quarterback sneaks like everyone else. It has nothing to do with the Eagles’ proficiency at it. It’s a loophole that shouldn’t exist.