Unsurprisingly, it was reportedly one of the Philadelphia Eagles’ top NFC rivals who sent a proposal for the NFL to ban the “tush push” play.
Under head coach Nick SIrianni, Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles have popularized the rugby-style tush push play, where two players line up behind the quarterback and push him forward to reach the first-down marker or end zone.
On Monday, news broke that one NFL team sent a proposal to the league to ban the practically unstoppable play. According to NFL insider Dianna Russini of The Athletic, that team has been identified as the Green Bay Packers.
Since they made the play popular in 2022, the Eagles have had a tush push success rate of over 90 percent. Hurts scored the opening touchdown of Super Bowl 59 against the Kansas City chiefs on the play that’s also known as “The Brotherly Shove.”
Other Teams Haven’t Been As Successful With The Tush Push
The Eagles and pro-tush push crowd have an easy argument for keeping the play legal: If you can’t stop it on defense, what’s stopping your team from executing it on offense?
The problem for other teams is that they haven’t been as successful running it. As noted by ESPN’s Tim McManus back in September, the average Brotherly Shove success rate league-wide was 76 percent.
It’s not the Eagles’ fault that they know how to execute it, or that other teams simply haven’t made it as automatic as them. So if the NFL bans the play, one can understand any frustration and anger that comes out of Philly.
