Ad Disclosure
They Ran the Brotherly Shove in 1903, Which Would Suggest that it is Indeed a “Football Play”
Published:
Well, well, well, what do we have here?
Here’s a play from literally the oldest football game on film, Yale-Princeton in 1903. The Tush Push is the only play in the NFL in 2023 that looks like it. Obviously we can and should modernize/innovate but “not how football was meant to be played” is almost exactly wrong https://t.co/yEtSbRD74b pic.twitter.com/mAAp8EXVuZ
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) October 23, 2023
Sure seems like a football play! 11 guys on one team pushing 11 guys on the other team in a battle for the line of gain. Doesn’t get much more innately football than that.
For those who were keeping track on Sunday night, there were a couple of injuries. Zero of them took place during the Brotherly Shove, which was run five times (four officially, with offsetting penalties cancelling out the first). So no, no elevated injury risk during any of those sequences. We did, however, see two Dolphins go into concussion protocol after an accidental collision, therefore we must ban crossing routes! Too dangerous!
(on a serious note, David Long was playing well in that game, and wasn’t able to return after the collision)
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com