NEW ORLEANS — They are two of the more delightful or detestable words, depending on where one’s loyalties lie, that have escalated into the fast-evolving NFL lexicon.
Tush push.
No team has taken advantage of the rugby-style scrum — deemed so unstoppable that the NFL had flirted with the idea of banning the play — quite like the Philadelphia Eagles under coach Nick Sirianni and quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Sirianni likes to say that every first down for the Eagles is first-and-9.
No example summed up how much the tush push can be a pain in the butt to the opposition quite like when the Eagles used it to maddening perfection against the Washington Commanders two weeks ago in the NFC championship game. The Commanders jumped offside four times in a sequence of five plays while trying to stop the tush push — earning them a warning from the referee that he could award the Eagles a touchdown if the Commanders did it again.
It sounded implausible, but it was true, right there in Rule 12, Section 3, Article 2 of the NFL’s rule book. Titled “Fouls To Prevent Score,” it states: “The defense shall not commit successive or repeated fouls to prevent a score.” Further, the rule reads that “if the violation is repeated after a warning, the score involved is awarded to the offensive team.”
Hurts, as he inevitably does, scored a touchdown.
“It’s a great concept, great play, hard to stop,” Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “If I was them, I would run it, too.”
Oh, they do, on repeat: The Eagles were successful on 28 of 34 attempts with the tush push this season, according to Next Gen Stats. Overall, Hurts converted 35 of 43 attempts this year on third-and-1 or fourth-and-1 from anywhere on field, plus any other runs from the 1-yard line.
That’s the incredulous part. Teams know the tush push is coming, fans at Lincoln Financial Field go wild when the home team lines up in formation for the signature play, and yet defenses still can’t stop the score.
Just don’t say that to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs, who have mastered the art of everything from the improbable comeback win to defying the odds and the injuries that seem insurmountable en route to a third straight Super Bowl as two-time reigning champions, might have unlocked the cheat code on stopping the tush push.
In the AFC title game two weeks ago, the Buffalo Bills converted only twice on six attempts with their tweaked version of the tush push. While the Eagles like to bunch together and push Hurts forward, the Bills and quarterback Josh Allen tend to lean left in their first-down attempts.
“(The Chiefs) put their big guys inside, and their linebackers were coming downhill pretty hard,” Allen said after the game. “They played it well.”
Well enough to stop the Eagles?
The Eagles fell short to Kansas City 38-35 when they played each other in the Super Bowl two years ago, but it wasn’t because of the tush push. Hurts scored two touchdowns on the play against the Chiefs — and threw for 304 yards and accounted for four total touchdowns in the game — and then used the play against Kansas City the following season to score the winning touchdown in a November rematch.
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, whose complicated defensive playbook and reliance on blitzes are a big reason why the team is back on the NFL’s biggest stage, has had at least two weeks to devise a scheme to stop Hurts in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday night at the Superdome (6:30 p.m. Eastern on Fox).
“I think the Eagles have perfected this thing over however many years it’s been, and that offensive line, I think they’re built for it,” Spagnuolo said. “They could take that O-line and win some rugby tournaments. They’re that big and physical, and they’ve really perfected the way they do it. I think it’s really tough to stop.”
Those teams that can’t stop it start making excuses.
For example, Green Bay Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy wrote on the team’s website after the Eagles eliminated them in the first round of this year’s playoffs that the tush push is “bad for the game.”
“There is no skill involved, and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less,” Murphy wrote. “The series of plays with the Commanders jumping offsides in the NFC Championship Game to try to stop the play was ridiculous. … I would like to see the league prohibit pushing or aiding the run.”
Ban the tush push? Sirianni can only scoff at critics who hate on the play.
“The success that we have is not always replicated around the entire league,” Sirianni said. “We saw it last week with the game plan we’re studying with Kansas City against Buffalo. Stopped them in a critical situation. I guess I’m lobbying to never change that rule because we’re successful at it. We’re successful at it because of the guys we have up front.”
The Eagles played to near push-perfection this season even after Cam Jurgens replaced the retired Jason Kelce at center. It helps having a quarterback like Hurts, whose tremendous leg strength is part of the equation, and a stout offensive line that features Pro Bowlers Landon Dickerson and Lane Johnson.
Controversial or not, just maybe the Eagles can use the push to sneak away with a Super Bowl win this time.