Bucs found secret to stopping Eagles’ Tush Push: Get away with blatant facemask

The most unstoppable play in the NFL — the Philadelphia Eagles' Brotherly Shove — was stopped by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.

How did the Bucs accomplish the impossible? How did they push back the Tush Push?

Well, they got a little help from a facemask and the refs.

Blatant facemask aids Bucs in stopping Eagles' Brotherly Shove

Jalen Hurts and company attempted the Brotherly Shove in the first half against the Bucs after a penalty on an extra point attempt put them on the one-yard line with a chance for two. Considering their hit rate on the QB sneak, going for the two-point conversion made perfect sense.

They didn't account for a Tampa Bay defender using Hurts' facemask to stop his forward progress. They certainly didn't account for that same defender getting away with it.

The refs flat-out missed the foul, failing to throw the flag for the no-brainer penalty which would have given Philly another shot at it.

Some fans will complain about the NFL rigging games, but it's best not to ascribe to malice what can be explained by incompetence. NFL refs just have a very bad habit of missing these kinds of calls on a game-by-game basis.

The value of the two points lost was yet to be determined. The Eagles were down 16-9 without them, so at least they didn't go from a one-possession game to down two possessions because of the refs' mistake. With an extra point, they would have trailed by two field goals. With the successful two-point conversion they would have been within five.

The Bucs jumped out to a 13-0 lead thanks to two Chase McLaughlin field goals and a 44-yard touchdown from Baker Mayfield to David Moore.

Eagles kicker Jake Elliott hit from 47 yards out to put his team on the board but McLaughlin answered from 48 a few minutes later.

Dallas Goedert's five-yard touchdown with just over three minutes left set up the face mask mishap.