Eagles WR DeVonta Smith's scary description of tush push play: 'You can't breathe'

The Philadelphia Eagles Tush Push is practically unstoppable, but wide receiver DeVonta Smith prefers to stay away from the inevitable pile-up

I tried to do some quick math, but math was never my strong suit, so forgive me if my estimates here are slightly off. But by my calculations, there's about two tons of weight colliding at the line of scrimmage on any given “Tush Push” play, or as the Philadelphia Eagles appropriately call it, “The Brotherly Shove.” 4,000 lbs. of humanity. That's the size of a small, albeit full-grown elephant. Now imagine you're DeVonta Smith, the Eagles third-year wide receiver who weighs maybe 170 lbs. after he's put back a few Philly Cheesesteaks. And imagine you somehow get stuck underneath that pile. What I'm saying is, imagine an elephant has decided to take a cat nap on top of you.

Now if you've taken the few seconds necessary to put yourself in that head space, you surely would understand that DeVonta Smith would want no part of ending up in that unenviable position. So it makes sense that Smith, who spoke with Kevin Clark, host of the “This Is Football Podcast,” has a rule about his involvement, or lack thereof, on the Tush Push.

Eagles star Devonta Smith sees the carnage of the tush push up close and has a policy: "I'm going to push a little bit but I'm not trying to get up in that pile. Bad things happen in that pile." Here's why. An absolutely riveting episode of This Is Football drops today. pic.twitter.com/nhToMaT0wF

— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) November 8, 2023

“You can’t breathe. Everybody’s on top of you, you can’t breathe. No matter how hard you try to breathe, it doesn’t work.”

That sounds like the elevator pitch of a Japanese horror film about a group of possessed Sumo wrestlers who track down their victims and sit on them to death (and if you think that sounds ridiculous, just imagine this movie in the hands of Takashi Shimizu, director of “The Grudge.”) Enjoy those nightmares.

As for Smith, the rail-thin wideout who is on pace for his second consecutive 1,000 yard receiving season, perhaps he's best suited doing what he does best, instead of mixing it up amongst that ridiculous mass of humanity.