There are times when the NFL can’t seem to get out of its own way. On Sunday morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the league is looking to possibly get rid of the Philadelphia Eagles’ “Tush Push” or “Brotherly Shove” — the wedge play that only Philly seems to be able to convert nearly automatically.
Brotherly shove: The controversial play has the attention of the competition committee, and the NFL and the NFLPA plan to study all the injury data related to the play, as is customary, during the off-season, per a league official, especially after two Giants were injured on the… pic.twitter.com/Ivwse05FGL
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 8, 2023
Let’s be clear here — the NFL only cares about injury data when it’s forced to. This is likely about grumpy owners of other teams complaining to the league office about something they can’t run, and they can’t stop.
It happened again at the end of the first half of the Eagles’ game against the Los Angeles Rams. For contrast, the Arizona Cardinals were trying a similar short-yardage thing against the Cincinnati Bengals, with not quite the same results.
awesome vs. not pic.twitter.com/S8uDOEkneV
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 8, 2023
Let’s be clear — the Eagles can do this because they have the NFL’s best offensive line, and the best offensive line coach in Jeff Stoutland. They have a center in Jason Kelce who can get below anybody trying to put a move on quarterback Jalen Hurts, and they have a quarterback in Jalen Hurts who is a guided missile in those situations.
Why should the Eagles be penalized with the removal of their automatic win just because other teams can’t figure out how to do it?
The #Giants tried the #Eagles 'Tush-Push' and failed.
Not everyone have the Eagles players pic.twitter.com/4hGgg6Bbb4https://t.co/K4pfo1wGfN
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 3, 2023
Two Giants players were injured on that play, and that’s unfortunate, but if you look at the overall data, it’s inconclusive at best. The furor over this thing reminds me of a certain concept that took the league by storm — for a very short while — in 2008.
Reminds me of the Wildcat in 2008. The Dolphins had a perfect mix of coaching and personnel to make it work, everyone else tried it and sucked with it. Took about half a season to figure it out (the Ravens did), and then, it was done. https://t.co/bxmJnbEHzt
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) October 8, 2023
Put simply, if other teams want to stop the push from working, they should figure out a way to stop it on the field. Until then, the Eagles should continue to be rewarded for their ingenuity.
