The San Francisco 49ers are looking to become just the second team this season to beat the Philadelphia Eagles. To overtake the Eagles, they might have to stop one of the Eagles' best plays — the tush-push.
The tush-push has become of the biggest talking points this season as it leads to almost guaranteed success for the Eagles on 3rd- or 4th-and-short. Some have also criticized the play as a vehicle for injuries. For the 49ers to get the Eagles offense off the field, they'll either need to avoid letting Philadelphia get to those short conversions, or stop the tush-push.
Ahead of Sunday's game, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan joked about how they're preparing for the play. “We're going to do like 10 live reps of it today and see if we have anyone left after it,” Shanahan said, via NBC Sports 49ers.
“You don't practice it,” Shanahan said. “You coach it up, tell 'em where we want guys and stuff. Not gonna spend a lot of time on it, but we're going to talk about it, show it and do as good as we can.”
The 49ers may have already found a way at stopping the tush-push thanks to All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner. Against the Minnesota Vikings earlier this year, Warner leapt over the offensive line and straight on Kirk Cousins to stop him from scoring on first-and-goal.
The question with this approach will be if it works against the Philadelphia offensive line and Jalen Hurts, who are the best at executing the tush-push. If not, the 49ers will have to brainstorm other ways to stop the tush-push and Eagles.