The Philadelphia Eagles showed their tactical genius by executing the controversial tush push play. That bold strategy paid off in two key touchdowns that ultimately propelled them to a gut-wrenching 31-25 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night. Head Coach Nick Sirianni is 100% behind the play. He noted how much players and fans love it, as well as how much success it has brought to the field.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts adopted an athletic crouch under center that had everyone thinking he was going to run a sneak. He threw a near perfect underhand pass to tight end Dallas Goedert. Goedert followed a convoy of blockers into the end zone, scoring the Eagles’ first touchdown.
Early in the game, the Eagles got into their tush push formation. On this play, Hurts handed off to running back Saquon Barkley. Barkley made the jump cut, going on to the outside, and then he exploded into the end zone! It was the second time that play had been called, and Barkley specifically cited the long-term planning of offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo for the success.
“Great call by KP,” – Saquon Barkley
The Eagles’ strategy comes amidst ongoing discussions regarding the legality and ethics of the tush push play in the NFL. In our final game rundown against the Kansas City Chiefs, Coach Andy Reid said Philadelphia “had a lot of success early” on multiple sneaks. This remark fueled even more discourse on the merits of play’s execution. In fact, during the offseason, the Green Bay Packers introduced a proposal to ban the push sneak. Unfortunately, the motion failed by only two votes.
Coach Sirianni admitted that the play had received a less than favorable reception throughout the league but doubled down that it was a fan favorite.
“It’s an exciting play. Makes it pretty exciting, right?” – Coach Nick Sirianni
Reflecting on what ended up being the game-winning touchdown against Tampa Bay, he continued,
“It seems like fans like the play, and it was pretty exciting today to get a touchdown pass off it, or two runs that come off of it, to make that play what it is.” – Coach Nick Sirianni
Goedert shared his excitement for the call in-game on Twitter, writing,
“I was really happy we got it called.” – Dallas Goedert
The Eagles passed the tush push test with flying colors, securing a huge win. Its stunning success was a catalyst for re-igniting discussions on its place in the modern game day strategy. As teams further figure out how to make it work and improvise on the attack, the future of this controversial set play may be at risk.
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