The Eagles are back in the Super Bowl for the second time in three years, this time stronger than ever on the ground, thanks to the presence of Saquon Barkley, who just put together an all-time season by a running back. But even with Barkley in the fold, it’s Jalen Hurts plowing forward for short-yardage gains on the “Tush Push” that still fuels this Philly offense.
And once again, there are calls for the play, also known as the “Brotherly Shove,” to be banned. This time around, it’s coming from an NFC team who lost to the Eagles in the playoffs. Packers president Mark Murphy, who is set to retire after the 2025 season, did a Q&A session on the team’s website and was quite clear on his stance: He wants the “Tush Push” banned.
“I am not a fan of this play. There is no skill involved and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less. The series of plays with the Commanders jumping offsides in the NFC Championship game to try to stop the play was ridiculous,” Murphy wrote in reply to a fan’s question about his thoughts on the play. “The referee even threatened to give the Eagles an automatic touchdown if the Commanders did not stop it. I would like to see the league prohibit pushing or aiding the runner [QB] on this play. There used to be a rule prohibiting this, but it is no longer enforced, because I believe it was thought to be too hard for the officials to see.
“The play is bad for the game, and we should go back to prohibiting the push of the runner. This would bring back the traditional QB sneak. That worked pretty well for Bart Starr and the Packers in the Ice Bowl.”
The “Tush Push” has been immensely successful for the Eagles since they started using it three years ago. And it’s not just the quick yardage the Eagles pick up to move the chains or find the end zone when they’re down at the goal line — it’s also the threat that opens up so much more for the offense.
Murphy referenced the Commanders matchup in the NFC title game, and he’s not wrong. It was ridiculous how many plays the Eagles tried to run with the Commanders continually jumping offsides, to the point the officials almost awarded the Eagles a touchdown via the rarely cited palpably unfair act rule in the NFL rulebook.
But this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a discussion about banning the “Tush Push,” either. Roughly this time last year there was discussion about banning the play and NFL VP of football operations Troy Vincent (a former Eagles star) said there was very little support in any kind of discussion about banning the play.
When the NFL owners meeting rolled around in March, there wasn’t even a proposal to discuss a possible ban of the play, even though NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reportedly wanted to see the play removed from the field near the end of the 2023 season.
No one loses more on the “Tush Push” than Barkley, and even he doesn’t care that Hurts is out there taking all his 1-yard touchdowns. Not that we expect him to — Barkley also sat down to “let the kids eat” when he had a chance at chasing history against his old team during the season and didn’t play in Week 18 in pursuit of a 2,000-yard rushing season either.
It shouldn’t be surprising for opponents of the Eagles to have a large amount of disdain for the “Tush Push.” It’s a nearly unstoppable play that frequently gives the Eagles more opportunities to extend drives and gives them a massive advantage down by the goal line.
But the Bills were arguably even better — or at least more efficient — than Philly at pulling the play off in 2024 and we didn’t hear much from around the league asking Josh Allen to stop flying up the middle. We heard nothing when the Chiefs managed to completely nullify Buffalo’s short-yardage rushing advantage in the AFC Championship game.
You can bank on the complaints going away if Chris Jones and Co. do the same thing against the Eagles in the Super Bowl, because if the Chiefs stop the “Brotherly Shove,” it probably means they won another Super Bowl and will have shown the world the unstoppable rushing play can actually be stopped.
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