I remember the Tush Push as an intricate set of dance moves executed individually but in unison with others. The line dance was popular at the country and western establishments I frequented back in the day.
Today, the “Tush Push” is the nickname for a football play where the quarterback takes the snap and barrels forward behind his center and the offensive line for a short-yardage gain of 1 to 2 yards. It’s also legal for two or three players behind the quarterback to push him forward. The Philadelphia Eagles have made a science of using the play with quarterback Jalen Hurts converting a first down 92% of the time.
Good for the Eagles. Bad for football. The “Tush Push” needs to be outlawed, especially the push part because this is football, not rugby.
Hurts used shoves in the back from wide receiver A.J. Brown and tight end Dallas Goebert to score a 1-yard touchdown on the final play of the first half against the Los Angeles Rams last Sunday. The “Brotherly Shove” gave Philadelphia a 17-14 lead on the way to a 23-14 victory. Philadelphia used the play six times in the game. Good for the Eagles. Bad for football.
What was wrong with the traditional quarterback sneak? It’s one of the oldest plays in the history of football. A quarterback sneak meant something when it was up to the offensive line to move back the defensive line and the quarterback used his legs and his toughness to battle for those few precious yards. It was football in its purest form: mano a mano.
Now the Tush Push is fashionable because of the unbridled shoving from behind. Quarterbacks hang on for the ride, hoping to ride the wave of the scrum across the first-down marker or the goal line. That isn’t football. It’s rugby.
Make the offensive line do its job. Make the quarterback do his job and outlaw the ability for three players to line up behind the quarterback and push him a distance he might not achieve on his own.
How NFL is looking at ‘Tush Push’
The NFL will eventually change the rule for health and safety reasons. You can already see it coming. The Tush Push exposes players to unnecessary injuries from bodies piling on top of each other. The New York Giants lost two players — center John Michael Schmitz and tight end Daniel Bellinger — when they ran their version of the Tush Push on fourth down at the end of the Giants’ first drive in Week 4 against the Seattle Seahawks. Despite having three guys pushing from behind quarterback Daniel Jones didn’t get the first down and Schmitz (shoulder) and Bellinger (knee) were out for the remainder of the game.
According to ESPN, the injuries suffered by the two Giants caught the attention of the NFL’s competition committee, which along with the NFL Players Association will study injury data related to the play. That seems a sensible thing to do, although the notion of a rule change drew the ire of Philadelphia center Jason Kelce. The All-Pro is already floating conspiracy theories suggesting teams might be faking injuries during a Tush Push to get the play banned.
“I’m telling you,” Kelce said on his podcast New Heights. “I swear, I guarantee. Guys are going to start faking injuries. It’s going to start off (as) minor injuries at first, but they’re already thinking about how can we get this outlawed for next season.”
I don’t think players care. But coaches and league officials should. Retired quarterback Tom Brady, never much of a runner, warned about the dangers of the play, especially for a quarterback. “The only thing I worry about in that particular play is they all know what’s coming when you line up in formation and that quarterback is going to take a lot of shots,” Brady said. “I don’t know how many times you want your quarterback taking shots.”
Preparing for Philadelphia Eagles’ ‘Brotherly Shove’
That seems to be what New York Jets coach Robert Saleh was pointing out on Wednesday when asked about how his defense is preparing for the Eagles “Tush Push” or “Brotherly Shove.” Pound the quarterback was his answer. “You’ve got to be sound,” Saleh said. “You’ve got to be disciplined. So we’ll do our best in that regard. But if the quarterback carries the ball, we’ve got to give him 11 kisses and figure out a way to do that.”
It doesn’t take much to understand his message: Along with the entire defense after his head, a quarterback is getting pushed from behind by three guys, trapping him between a half dozen players totaling more than 1,000 pounds. That’s my scientific calculations, but you get the idea.
Let’s make coaches and offensive coordinators earn their money by designing short-yardage plays instead of relying on a boring and dangerous scrum of bodies piling on top of each other. This is football. Not rugby.
George Willis is a columnist for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.