The Philadelphia Eagles knocked off the Kansas City Chiefs 20-17 on Sunday in a Super Bowl rematch, but the biggest talking point of that game was the 'Tush-Push'.
The Eagles used it multiple times to extend drives in the win, but the talk was about whether it should be legal or not. One of the biggest complaints is how hard it is to officiate.
At times, the Eagles offensive line was clearly moving before the snap, while the Chiefs had players lined up in the neutral zone. On one play, there were three Eagles players moving early, and the Chiefs player smacked the ball out of the centers hand and nothing was called.
Many former players and analysts have come out and said that it should be eliminated from the game. The league had a chance to get rid of it last year, but there weren't enough votes. With all the negative reporting on it, former Eagles star center Jason Kelce came out and defended the play on his podcast 'New Heights' that he hosts with his brother and Chiefs star, Travis.
"I love that the problem everyone has with the tush push this week, has absolutely nothing to do with the actually pushing portion," Kelce said on his show. "Like banning the tush push doesn't even stop what they have an issue with from the play this last week. The Eagles still could have done exactly what they did last week with it being a regular QB sneak. Officials being more stringent on players aligning in the neutral zone and false starts is the only way to stop what everyone has an issue with. And I get it, there were at last a couple from the game that were too early, and should be called false starts. It is an extremely hard thing to officiate, and good players on both sides of the ball jump the snap and use the neutral zone to their advantage on multiple downs and plays throughout the game. Getting rid of the tush push will not stop the issue everyone is riled up about."
There have been many teams that have tried and run the play, and they haven't had the success. The Eagles started running this play with Kelce as the center, and he was the perfect fit for it.
He was a little smaller as a center, but with his low center of gravity and athleticism, he was able to explode off the snap and get the initial block. Second, no quarterback is built to run it like Jalen Hurts.
Hurts, is shorter than most NFL quarterbacks, but he is also the strongest by a wide margin. He can squat over 600 pounds, and is able to generate the power to push the line forward when he needs to.
This has been a talking point for a while, but it came full face on Sunday. Even some of the Chiefs' biggest critics were saying the play needs to be banned. For now, teams are just going to have to figure it out and try and get a stop. The NFL will not ban the play in the middle of the season.
However, this feels a little bit like when the Buffalo Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in that historic AFC Divisional Round game in 2022 when the Bills didn't get the ball in overtime. The whole nation was watching that game, and the NFL came out and made the change that next year.
This was one of the most viewed regular season games in a long time, and this was the biggest talking point coming out of a terrific, old-school defensive game.
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