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This season, the Philadelphia Eagles got by (the first down line) with a little help from their friends and revolutionized the quarterback sneak in the process. With the so-called “tush push,” the Eagles ported a rugby-style scrum to the gridiron, converting 29 of 32 quarterback sneaks by using players to push Jalen Hurts forward from behind to add extra propulsive oomph.
In fact, the play was so novel and so effective that it might be outlawed entirely; although players have been allowed to push the ball carrier forward since 2005, the Eagles' success with the play made the “tush push” a central topic of conversation among the league's competition committee last week. As a result, the Eagles are now trying to do what no other team has been able to accomplish: defend their QB sneak.
“I think some defensive coaches are bringing that up,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said on Tuesday during a press conference at the NFL Draft Combine. “We'll play with whatever rules they have. Obviously, it was a very successful play for us … But it wasn't the only thing we were doing [in those situations]. I think we had some exciting plays that came off of it, when the defenses were trying to stop the [push] play that they thought was coming. And that's kind of what football is, right?”
Despite consternation that the tactic is unfair and “dumb,” the Eagles are hardly alone in their belief that the “tush push” is very legal and very cool.
“This is an opportunity for the game to evolve, I think,” Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said in his Tuesday press conference in support of Sirianni and the Eagles. “I didn't [initially] understand or didn't realize how far they had gone with their commitment in terms of it looking like a rugby play in a scrum. I thought that was an evolutionary opportunity for the league.”
