Throughout NFL history, coaches have experimented with countless schemes and play designs in an attempt to gain a competitive advantage. Some of them — screen passes, shotgun formations, read-option plays — have become a permanent fixture. Others, like the wildcat formation, proved to be a short-lived trend.
Few, if any, have proven to be as successful as the Philadelphia Eagles’ twist on the common quarterback sneak. Commonly referred to as the “Tush Push” or “Brotherly Shove,” the short-yardage play works similarly to a quarterback sneak, except with two teammates pushing the quarterback from behind as he lunges past the line of scrimmage.
The incredible success of the play helped lead the Eagles to a championship in Super Bowl LIX, but that competitive advantage may be coming to an end. Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, told NFL Network’s Judy Battista that the tush push was “in the same conversation” as the hip-drop tackle three years ago, but the league tabled it to focus on the hip-drop tackle.
With the tackle officially banned last offseason, the league now has its sights on the Eagles’ quarterback sneak.
While speaking with reporters on Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst confessed that his team submitted a rule change proposal that would ban the “tush push,” citing player safety and health concerns.
Nick Sirianni fired back at teams for supporting “Tush Push” ban
Emboldened by the protection of chief security officer "Big Dom" DiSandro, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni isn’t backing down from a fight. Sirianni offered his rebuttal when asked about the rule, essentially stating that the Packers, among other teams, are just mad because they can’t run the play as successfully.
"I see stuff like 'it's automatic.' It's almost insulting,” Sirianni said, via Eagles Nation. “We work so hard on that play. The amount of coaching, and fundamentals, how the players deal with it. I can't tell you how many times we've practiced it. … We saw a team fail at it in the [conference] championship games. … It's a skill our team has because of our players, the way our coaches coach it. We put so much time into it. The fact people wanna take it away because the Eagles are so good at it is a little unfair.”
In 2024, the Eagles converted 39 of 48 attempts (81.2 percent) into first downs or touchdowns, per CBS Sports. The Eagles gained a first down or touchdown on the following play. Eight of the nine failed attempts were followed by a successful first down or touchdown with the same call on the next play.
The team that failed to convert the play in a conference championship game was the Buffalo Bills, who were stuffed on a critical fourth down during their 32-29 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs. Sirianni’s subtle jab at Buffalo came shortly after Bills head coach Sean McDermott criticized the Eagles on Tuesday.
The Bills have been the second-most successful team at running the play, but McDermott voiced his support for banning the tush push — or, at least, banning Philadelphia’s version of it. McDermott attempted to argue that the Bills “do it a little bit different than other teams,” and that his concern with the play has to do with “one team in particular,” which “does it a certain way.”
The NFL could find it difficult to ban the play based on injuries alone, according to Battista. The play is run too infrequently to provide enough injury data for a ban.