The Philadelphia Eagles have become unstoppable when using the infamous “tush push,” their short-yardage play where quarterback Jalen Hurts is pushed from behind to help him gut out just enough yardage for a first down or score.
However, not everyone around the league is happy about the play. Many feel like it’s not a “true football play” and has no place in the sport, while others feel the Eagles are getting away with false starts. Now, the league finally appears to be taking a stand against the play.
“Any time we have this situation we’re in short yardage, we know we want to make sure that we officiate these plays — the offensive team has to be perfect in every aspect,” the NFL’s vice president of officiating training and development, Ramon George, said in a training video for officials, according to Next Impulse Sports.
“We want to officiate it tight. We want to be black and white and be as tight as we can be when we get into this situation where teams are in the bunch position and we have to officiate them being onsides, movement early. … Prior to the snap, looks like we have movement by the right guard.
“We also have movement coming across from the defensive side. This is a very hard play to officiate. I get it.”
“You can see the right guard moves early,” George went on . “You’ve got your defender who’s trying to punch the ball. But more so, we have a false start coming from the right guard.
“We want to make sure that we officiate these plays tight and make sure that every aspect of the offensive team is legal and any movement . . . that’s not correct, we want to shut it down as a false start. False start would be the proper call here.”
It’ll be interesting to see what the league’s crackdown means for the Eagles.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.