With the NFL and the owners effectively set to ban the Philadelphia Eagles Tush Push play, or Brotherly Shove, depending on what tickles your fancy, the issue has become a real lightning rod one among NFL circles. There are myriad reasons why those teams who support the ban claim it should be axed, and those against the ban, mainly the Eagles, chalk it up to jealousy.
Having said that, what better time than now to point out every hole and hypocrisy in the arguments, and teams, involved in supporting the banning. That way the claim of it simply being jealousy and envy couldn't be more clear. Let the blaze of glory begin.
The teams that want the Eagles play banned.
Let's start with the obvious. The Green Bay Packers wrote the proposal to ban the Eagles' Tush rule. However, some more vocal teams that back the Pack in this journey include the Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills.
For the Packers and Rams, it's pretty easy to see why the Brotherly Shove has overcooked their grits. The Eagles beat both teams twice on their way to their demolition job of a Super Bowl LIX championship for the 2024 season.
As for the Bills, where to even begin.
They were a pretty easy second place in the rankings of teams that ran the play effectively. Josh Allen and company were quite good at running the play, just not as good as Jalen Hurts. The Eagles scored their first of many touchdowns in Super Bowl LIX with the play against the Kansas City Chiefs. In contrast, the Bills' inability to convert using the play against those same Chiefs cost them a trip to the aforementioned Super Bowl. Some people don't like proof with their pudding.
Now for the actual arguments themselves.
The claim that the play isn't a football play.
This one is honestly almost as hilarious as the teams involved. The notion that the Tush Push is a rugby play is honestly hysterical for two reasons.
The first, is that Jordan Mailata, who literally made his bones playing rugby, said it isn't a rugby play at all, and who are we to call him a liar?
The second part of the hilarity that in it's core the Brotherly Shove is literally the most football play to ever football. It's eleven on one side vs. eleven on the other literally ramming into each other to see who is the strongest. It just so happens that Hurts, Mailata and company are stronger than everyone else.
That's football, and football became what it is from evolving from rugby, get over it.
The claim that the play is ugly.
Piggybacking off the last point, there is a belief that the play isn't very easy on the eyes. Honestly, maybe that's true. You know what though? Football is an ugly game. That's showbiz.
The claim that the play is a safety hazard.
From the various ivory towers, many will claim that they are putting safety first. In the game of football. There really isn't much time to open that hilarious can of worms so we'll just laugh at them on their horses they think are highest.
This argument itself though is pretty simple. There is literally zero data, like at all, that can verify the play is a safety hazard, or any more dangerous than any play on any given day.
The game of football itself is a walking safety hazard, so if that's the hill you wish to plant your flag, the game itself would just die there.
The claim that the play causes a rate-of-play issue.
This is the new one that ban-supporters are clinging too. The claim that they Tush Push causes a disruption in the flow of play.
The burr in this saddle is, most of the time the Eagles line up for the Brotherly Shove, it tends to be more of a hurry-up to the line with a quicker snap. The only time the play really caused a game to slow down was when Frankie Luvu of the Washington Commanders kept jumping over the line and crashing into Hurts repeatedly. Funny how that works out.
The claim that the play is too unstoppable and the Eagles are just too good at it.
WE MADE IT TO THE MEAT AND POTATOES THE ISSUE. This is what everything stems from, as alluded to in the first point about the supporting teams. We've come full-circle.
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles are just too good at the Tush Push/Brotherly Shove, and that drives the rest of the league bananas. The (probably inevitable) banning of this unforgettable play creates a precedent where you can ban anything that's too dominant and lame.
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It should be worth noting that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, thanks to the Tongan terror of a nose-guard Tevita Tuliʻakiʻono Tuipulotu Mosese Vaʻhae Fehoko Faletau Vea (known more commonly as Vita Vea), are a thorn in the Philadelphia Eagles' side due in large part to their ability to at least neutralize the play. It's like having a freakishly strong player (or players) leads to success in this play. How about that?
In any event, pour one out for the Tush Push, Brotherly Shove, or however you choose to remember it, but not without sipping on all of what has been said here first.