Eagles

Plot Twist: Jordan Mailata Says the Brotherly Shove is Not a Rugby Play

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Nov 3rd, 2023 · 9:49 AM EDT

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One of the criticisms of the Brotherly Shove is that it’s not a “football play,” but instead comes from the rugby family tree. However, Jordan Mailata, who has played both sports, says THAT’S NOT TRUE! (Mike Gundy voice) – 

Take it from a pro in both sports, the brotherly shove is NOT a rugby play @Experian_US

THE JORDAN MAILATA EPISODE PREMIERES NOW!

Tap in: https://t.co/dq2NHTNrsg pic.twitter.com/v6DOko0E0y

— New Heights (@newheightshow) November 3, 2023

“It’s got nothing to do with any rugby movements… It’s not a rugby play, dude a scrum is much harder than the tush push… I learned the Brotherly Shove here at the Eagles, I didn’t incorporate anything, like to carry over, you, JP (Jason Peters), and Stout (Jeff Stoutland) taught me the Brotherly Shove. I just do what you taught me all those years ago. That’s what I do now. I don’t want to give it away, but I just do what you essentially taught me and it works every time.”

I’m watching the full episode to see if  Mailata goes more in depth on this, because I don’t think the average American football fan watches a lot of rugby or knows much about rugby technique. From a very basic optics standpoint, we look at the Brotherly Shove and rugby scrum and see two large groups of bodies using leverage against each other, but the scrum is actually a restart play and the point is to get the ball to go backward and not forward. That’s a gross oversimplification, but the ball actually rolls to the players at the end of the pack, where you can pick it up and resume play. You’ll see occasions where the team with possession keeps moving the other side back, and they wait to pick the ball up, which is probably what Baldy and everyone else was thinking when “rugby scrum middle” was first coined last year: