The Eagles’ Tush Push play — or Brotherly Shove, as Nick Sirianni calls it — has become virtually unstoppable. Enough coaches complained about it after the Eagles converted on 37 of the 41 times they ran it last season that the Competition Committee reviewed it and discussed it during the offseason.
There was not, however, a rule proposal ban it.
So, the Eagles are back at it this season, and opposing coaches still hate it.
“I would personally like to see it eliminated, not just because they run it better than anybody, although they do run it better than anybody, but I don’t think that’s a football play,” Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio said this week, via video from JP Finlay of NBCSportsWashington.com. “I think it’s a nice rugby play, and it’s not what we’re looking for in football. But until it’s outlawed, we’ll prepare for it and get ready to do our best to stop it.”
Hurts is pushed from behind on short-yardage plays — usually by tight end Dallas Goedert, running back D’Andre Swift and wide receiver A.J. Brown — with great success. No defense has found a way to consistently stop it.
“There is clearly a talent to it that our guys have, because maybe it’s automatic right now for the Philadelphia Eagles, but it’s not automatic around the NFL,” Sirianni said last week, via Ralph Vacchiano of Fox Sports. “I get that some people are complaining about it, but stop it. Stop the play.”
