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No One Likes the Tush Push, We Shouldn’t Care
By Tim Reilly
Published:
On Monday morning’s episode of Get Up!, ESPN’s roundtable discussion show that regularly features reporters and analysts across the network, Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter took his seat and proceeded to diagnose the reason the Eagles were able to secure an impressive, if ugly, road win in Kansas City in Week 2 of this young NFL season:
“This game was lost in March,” Schefter declared. “This game was lost when the NFL owners refused to ban the Tush Push from happening. It wasn’t lost yesterday. It was lost in March. And there might be a lot of games that the Eagles play that are lost in March, because this play is unstoppable. Not only does a defense not know how to handle it, but even the officials don’t know how to handle it. You’ve seen the Eagles’ linemen jump offsides every play, and nothing’s called! So the officials have no idea; defenses have no idea; and the Eagles get to do whatever they want on every single play in the Tush Push – and, again, I know people hate it, but they have mastered it. They have dominated the line of scrimmage.”
Schefter has a well-earned reputation as the NFL’s Master of Whisperers, a man so plugged into his beat that he’s often the first among a horde of competitors to break news about the latest transaction, player injury, contract dispute, coaching change, or league office directive. He trades in information, and his customers range from front office executives and coaches to agents angling for any edge they can gain for their clients. When he speaks, people listen – often because he’s speaking for someone else.
And so, it is fair to ask, as Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski wondered, if Schefter was channeling the frustrations of NFL power brokers who are determined to eradicate the Tush Push. This exasperation is among the worst-kept secrets in the game. In fact, it isn’t a secret at all. The Packers made their own push to ban the play in the offseason, and it became clear as the proceedings unwound that Commissioner Roger Goodell was supportive of the effort.
Although the Tush Push lived to see another season, the vexation abides. Fox’s in-house rules analyst and former NFL officiating executive Dean Blandino essentially threw in the towel on Sunday as he complained about the difficulty of assessing the play. Social media was ablaze with analysts and fans whining about the Eagles lining up offside and jumping the snap, adding to an already unfair advantage.
Bill Cowher joined The Dan Patrick Show to add his own two cents, comparing the play to a rugby scrum and deeming it unsafe and “not a good-looking play.” –
Et tu, Coach Cowher? Has all that time in CBS’s air-conditioned studio softened the old-school football coach who once patrolled the Pittsburgh Steelers sideline like a Marine Corps drill instructor?
In my opinion, Schefter likely wasn’t parroting anybody. He was simply playing a character on a show with a reliable formula, ginning up a take designed to drive engagement and eyeballs. And it worked!
What we’re witnessing is the creation of a narrative in real time. The Eagles’ linemen jumping early on some of the plays in Kansas City has morphed into a manufactured reality that the team cheats every time it runs the sneak. Pay attention as well to the context that’s missing from these protests. No one has pointed out the difficulty of executing a precision play as a road team at Arrowhead, perhaps the loudest stadium in the league. And little has been made of the Chiefs’ feeble attempts to stop the Tush Push, which included illegally batting at the ball as it was snapped and lining up in the neutral zone as well. Also missing has been an acknowledgment that one of the scrutinized plays at the goal line only happened because the on-field and replay officials both missed a clear Hurts touchdown on the previous down.
Instead, we get resentment and resignation. The referees simply cannot officiate the play! Never mind that it should be easy to assess a pre-snap penalty for a neutral zone infraction, and spotting the ball, even in a crowd, is something line judges manage with general success and little fanfare at every level of football.
The only fact that is material in this discussion is the indisputable truth that the NFL is an entertainment product that has become more and more corporate as its popularity has surged and its millions of dollars in revenue have turned into billions. And in the entertainment business, if you’re boring, you’re failing. That’s the real problem with the Tush Push.
Critics don’t like the play because the Eagles execute it to near-perfection. But the greater sin is the perception that the Tush Push isn’t aesthetically pleasing. In other words, it doesn’t look good on TV. And so it must go.
And it likely will be legislated out of existence as soon as this offseason. In the meantime, expect officials to apply extra scrutiny every time the Eagles line up in the Tush Push formation.
While the growing army of whiners might win the case, don’t let them win the argument. Don’t let them tell you the Tush Push isn’t a football play, that it’s a relic of rugby.
For one, football is derived from rugby. And in rugby, one yard doesn’t matter. Possession matters. There are no downs and distances, and there are no quarterbacks who are accorded special privileges restricting where and how they can be hit.
It’s a tough game designed for tougher people. Football is still that way, at least for now. And plays that pit the offense and defense against each other in a battle of execution and will over one yard of real estate are not alien to football. They are the essence of football.
No matter the Tush Push’s ultimate fate, I suspect the Eagles will be just fine. They will continue to excel in short yardage because they are built to win in those situations. Jalen Hurts will continue to own the squat rack, Landon Dickerson will continue to be among the best run blockers in the NFL, and the offensive line will continue to be the best-coached unit in the game. An unassisted quarterback sneak will have similar success so long as the above ingredients remain the same.
Because that’s the real secret sauce of the Tush Push’s success. It isn’t the play itself. It’s the players. It’s the team. It’s the culture.
Perhaps someone should tell Adam Schefter.
Tim Reilly is a freelance writer from Northeast Philadelphia. He can be reached at reillyt7@gmail.com.