On their way to a Super Bowl 59 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, the Philadelphia Eagles proved a long-held team building philosophy true… build your team from the inside out and reliably dominate the trenches on both sides of the ball, and success is probably coming your way. On Super Bowl Sunday it was a dominant pass-rush that made Patrick Mahomes’ life hell for three hours, but for four months prior to that, it was the league’s best offensive line, a generational running back, and one borderline unstoppable short-yardage play that carried Philly to the promised land.
That borderline unstoppable short-yardage play — the Tush Push, Brotherly Shove, or as Jalen Hurts simply calls it, the quarterback sneak — has been the subject of much controversy, largely because the Eagles have turned this ugly rugby scrum into a sure-thing 4th-and-1 antidote. But for as successful as the play is, it doesn’t mean everyone involved is the biggest fan of it. Just ask former Eagles center Jason Kelce, who isn’t shy about his disdain for the play.
“For me, as a center, it sucks,” Kelce said during an appearance on The Steam Room. “It’s a grueling play where you’re going to get as low as possible . . . if I get grass on my facemask I probably did the play pretty good, because I got as low as possible and drove forward. If you get low and drive forward, it’s really hard for the defense to stop it.”
It helps that the Eagles have the personnel to perfect the play. Behind the biggest offensive line in the NFL is quarterback Jalen Hurts, whose leg strength has been well-documented. For those specific reasons, the Eagles have converted 1st downs on this place at nearly a 90 percent rate over the last three years while the rest of the league is below 80 percent. And hey, it doesn’t help to have players, including a former veteran like Jason Kelce, who are willing to put their bodies on the line for the sake of the conversion.
“It’s such a difference-maker at the end of the day that you’re always willing to do that for your team,” Kelce said. “It’s a 92 percent chance. Other teams don’t run it at the same success rate. Maybe the Eagles just happen to be really, really good at it. Is it fair to punish a team just because they’re better at it than everyone else? I don’t think that’s fair.”
Predictably, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni shares this sentiment, stating that the Eagles shouldn’t be penalized because they’ve mastered the play.
“It’s always a topic for conversation: Should this play be banned?” Sirianni said ahead of the Super Bowl, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “I guess I’m lobbying to never change that rule because we’re successful at it, but we’re successful at it because of the guys we have up front.”
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