The tush push came back to the forefront earlier this week during the Philadelphia Eagles’ 20-17 Super Bowl rematch win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Slow-motion replays showed that guards Landon Dickerson and Tyler Steen might have false-started a couple times but weren’t flagged.
Refs miss a false start on the Eagles on this tush push touchdown pic.twitter.com/3WbK8gkb5X
— Rate the Refs (@Rate_the_Refs) September 14, 2025
However, the Chiefs were flagged for a neutral zone infraction trying to stop Jalen Hurts from running the tush push, and camera angles showed Kansas City might have lined up offsides on other plays.
“Just because we see it, sometimes the official is 15, 20 feet away. Sometimes they can miss those small things,” Kansas City defensive tackle Chris Jones told The Athletic’s Jayna Bardahl and Jesse Newell after the game. “We think he jumped multiple times. The official didn’t see it, so it wasn’t called. We’ve just got to go play the next down.”
Speaking to reporters Monday, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid stated that those false starts need to be flagged.
“If guys are moving early, then you’ve got to call that,” Reid said, via The Athletic. “So they’ll go back and look at that and see what their evaluation is of it. It could be different than mine. Mine, I felt like the guys were moving. That’s why I was griping about it on the sideline there with the officials. But sometimes people see things different. So we’ll see where it goes. They’ll have a chance to evaluate it, and I’ll be curious to see what the response is.”
The tush push — better known among Eagles fans as the “Brotherly Shove” — was nearly banned during the offseason but failed following a 22-10 vote by NFL owners. Twenty-four votes were needed for the proposal to take effect.
Eagles Fire Back at Chiefs
On Wednesday, Eagles Second-Team All-Pro left tackle Jordan Mailata called out the Chiefs, saying they were the ones actually cheating by yelling their cadence, which is a penalty.
“I think it’s pretty rich for them to say that we’re false starting especially right after the game when you’re lining up in the neutral zone,” Mailata told SportsRadio 94WIP. “And I thought mimicking the cadence is a penalty?”
Jordan Mailata says defenses are mimicking Eagles cadence at the snap to try to ruin the Tush Push.
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) September 17, 2025
Mimicking the cadence is against the rules and a penalty
Chiefs did it. Packers did it. Washington did it
Eagles have told the refs and it still hasnt stopped@SportsRadioWIP pic.twitter.com/93aU9ZSAlr
Mailata noted that on top of the Chiefs, the Green Bay Packers and Washington Commanders have allegedly mimicked Hurts’ cadence. The left tackle even said Kansas City did it in the Super Bowl.
Mailata described how the Eagles have their scout team mimicking the cadence during practice because they know opponents will be doing that.
“We’ve had to drill that because of this and we’ve brought it up pregame to referees, that this is what they do, but they don’t have that referee standing behind the defense now so they can’t really call that penalty,” said Mailata.
He added: “They’re trying to find a way to stop the play which I can commend and respect. But at the same time, let’s not cry wolf. If you’re gonna cry wolf and say that we false start, you’re lining up offsides.”
By the Numbers
According to CBS Sports’ Mike Renner, the Eagles ran seven tush push plays against the Chiefs, which accounted for 11.7% of their offensive snaps.
the Eagles ran 7 tush-pushes yesterday
— Mike Renner (@mikerenner_) September 15, 2025
11.7% of their offensive snaps were tush-pushes
Since 2022, the Birds have converted the tush push on fourth-and-one 99.6% of the time.
