The tush push is living on borrowed time. Fair or not, it feels like the end is near for the Eagles’ signature short-yardage play after yet another officiating controversy.
On Sunday, Jalen Hurts converted a fourth-and-1 via the tush push against the Giants. But when Hurts reached beyond the line-to-gain to ensure he got the first down, New York’s Kayvon Thibodeaux ripped the ball away.
It looked like an obvious fumble and change of possession. Even the most biased Eagles fan can recognize it should have been New York’s ball at its own 10-yard line.
Instead, the refs ruled that Hurts’ forward progress had been stopped. Giants coach Brian Daboll tried to challenge the ruling, but the play couldn’t be reviewed. Daboll then threw the red flag on the spot out of spite, and it failed. The Eagles scored two plays later.
Understandably, the Giants felt aggrieved.
“(The official) said they called forward progress before he reached the ball out,” Thibodeaux told reporters postgame. “Sounds like some bull---- to me.”
It was. The officials blew the call. Simple as that.
Now, the Eagles shouldn’t be penalized for that. They shouldn’t have the tush push, which others have tried and they have perfected, taken away because of officiating incompetence.
But this is just the latest error with the tush push that will be used as ammo to ban the play this offseason.
There have been several false starts on the tush push that have gone uncalled, with former officials saying it’s too hard to see between the mess of players without the benefit of slow motion.
That’s not on the Eagles. That’s on the refs doing their jobs.
But clearly they can’t when it comes to the tush push.
“I’ve never really had a passionate take on the tush push until (Sunday),” ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky said. “After watching what happened to the Giants, I’m out on it. This is a play that we’ve gotta move away from because of the way it’s officiated.”
The NFL doesn’t have to move away from it. There are missed calls all the time on normal running plays and passing plays. That’s a part of the game.
But with the way the narrative is spinning forward, it feels like an inevitability that the tush push will be banned, like it almost was back in March.
The Green Bay Packers’ proposal to ban the play received 22 votes; it needed 24 to pass. And after all of these high-profile, glaring mistakes, it feels like an inevitability that a team will propose to ban the play again next spring.
The Eagles are preparing for that, too.
Last month, Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata was asked if he felt like the tush push was living on borrowed time. Mailata cracked a smile.
“It’s a life well-lived, if I might add,” Mailata said. “What do you do when you have six months to live? You live it up.”
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