It’s no secret. For years, the Philadelphia Eagles have been perfecting their own version of the classic QB Sneak. There’s starting to be whispers, though, that the famously nicknamed “Tush Push” or “Brotherly Shove” might not be around much longer.
In Senior NFL Writer Dianna Russini’s latest article for the Athletic on Saturday, December 2nd, she even writes that she “was told by a league source that Goodell wants to see this play removed from the game permanently,” and “If he gets his way, expect the Philly boos to be unbearable.”
In her article, she touches on a number of exciting happenings around the NFL, from Shaq Leonard speculation, also covered extensively by Heavy Sports (here and here), to Vikings WR Justin Jefferson coming back, but the portion on the “Tush Push” play has to be the most notable for Eagles fans.
The “Brotherly Shove” Is Frustrating Teams Because It’s Near Unstoppable
Her section on the Eagles play starts by saying, “Everyone knows when it’s coming, it’s stopping it that has proved challenging. The 49ers defense claims they have a good game plan against the Eagles’ ‘Brotherly Shove’ in their NFC championship re-match. We’ll see it all on Sunday.”
Just last week, the Bills tried their best and failed, even getting desperate on one play that led Jason Kelce to tell 94WIP Sports Radio that Bills DT Jordan Phillips should be fined for a late hit. The Eagles vet even said, “He purposely, purposely, tried to hurt Cam Jurgens.”
Sure, the Eagles have the best-rated offensive line in the sport, and it’s been well-documented that QB Jalen Hurts is a super athlete that can squat 600 pounds. This makes the “Tush Push” no ordinary QB Sneak play, but it’s far from unfair.
In fact, it’s hard to come up with any logical reason why the play should be banned from the perspective of what’s traditionally been permitted on the gridiron, but Russini says, “Frankly, at this point, the only thing that’s going to consistently stop it is 24 votes from the NFL owners in 2024. It may happen too.”
Concerns About Injuries Will Not Be the Reason for the Play’s Demise
She acknowledged that player safety concerns likely won’t be the play’s downfall either and that last year, no one thought it was a serious enough issue to bring to the league in a proposal, but then she changed course, saying, “That is probably going to change.”
Then, she brings up the most unfortunate fact of all, saying, “It’s apparent this is going to be heavily debated among the competition committee made up of owners, general managers and coaches. It’s important to note that there isn’t a single person from the Eagles organization on the competition committee. However, three of their divisional opponents are represented: New York Giants owner John Mara, Cowboys COO Stephen Jones and Washington head coach Ron Rivera.”
When the article broke, fans and analysts alike took to social media with their differing opinions. Some were saying that if the “Tush Push” is going to be banned, they’ll have to ban the QB Sneak in general and that people forget how dominant Tom Brady and Bill Belichick were with the QB Sneak. Others were saying, though, that the “Tush Push” bears little resemblance to the classic QB Sneak, even posting videos to compare.
The Kenny The Sports Guy Podcast even started a poll, which posed the question, “Should the tush push be banned?” As of late Saturday night, the results were showing “No leave it” to be in the lead by a wide margin.
We will have to wait until next year to find out what will happen with the Eagles ‘ bread-and-butter distance play, but the team not having anyone on the competition committee certainly doesn’t bode well. Like Russini says, “Though it will all come down to the voting, the most important opinion about the play may come from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.”