The Philadelphia Eagles’ incredibly successful “Tush Push” play, also known as the “Brotherly Shove,” is making headlines once again.
The Green Bay Packers recently made a proposal to the NFL to ban the play, which is predominantly used by the Eagles in short-yardage situations. Other teams have their own versions but aren’t nearly as successful.
The play has been previously studied by the league, but no action has been taken.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni says it would be “unfair” to ban the play.
“I can’t tell you how many times we’ve practiced the snap, we’ve practiced the play — it’s not a play that’s easy to practice, so there’s different ways we’ve figured out how to practice it — the complements that come off of it that can create explosive plays,” Sirianni said, via ESPN.com.
“The fact that it’s [portrayed] as an automatic thing, we work really hard, and our guys are talented at this play, and so it’s a little insulting to say we’re good at it so it’s automatic. We work really hard at it.”
Sirianni is also getting support from the head coach he just defeated in Super Bowl 59.
Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid supports ‘Tush Push’
In an interview with Pro Football Talk, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, who was on the other side of a Jalen Hurts “Brotherly Shove” TD, backed the play.
“They do it better than anybody, so they’re gonna get criticized,” Reid said. “Heck, if we could do it effectively, I’d probably do it.”
Reid also brought up what former Eagles center Jason Kelce said about running the play when he called it “grueling.”
“That’s how I feel, but these committees take care of all this injury stuff,” Reid added. “You hear Jason Kelce coming out — he said it when he was playing, he said it when he’s retired. And I got a lot of trust in that kid, he’s tougher than shoe leather. He’s out there going, ‘this is a great play, but it kills me. As a center, I was getting destroyed.’ . . . That in itself is an alarm that you gotta look at.”
It’s highly unlikely the “Tush Push” would get banned. If the proposal goes to a vote, 24 of the 32 owners would need to approve to ban it.
In 2024, Hurts had 14 rushing touchdowns, with 13 of them coming in goal-to-go downs. The Eagles also had the fourth-best fourth-down conversion rate in the league at 70.4%.
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