The Detroit Lions were one of 10 NFL teams that voted against banning the “tush push” play at the NFL owners meetings in the spring, when the subject came up for a vote.
The league needed at least 24 of 32 teams to vote in favor of the move but only got 22, meaning the play made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles could stick around.
Now in its fifth season as part of the Eagles’ offense, teams are starting to play it smarter and that included the Lions Sunday night.
After the game, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni offered “respect” to the Lions for not only their vote to keep the play around but also how they defended the play.
“They did a good job tonight. Obviously, they had a good plan,” Sirianni said. “They went and tried to find a way to stop it and they did a good job stopping it tonight. We had a couple that were good, the one in the red zone. But they did a good job on that tonight. So respect to them and credit to them on that.”
The tush push is a variation on the quarterback sneak that involves extra players positioned behind the signal caller to push him forward while the offensive line surges ahead.
Coach Dan Campbell reiterated his support for the play ahead of the matchup.
Philadelphia’s big red-zone success came on a tush push from the one-yard line by quarterback Jalen Hurts that scored the Eagles’ lone touchdown in a 16-9 victory over Detroit.
That was one of five attempts at a tush push and the other four were all stifled. Three were stopped by defenders and one resulted in a false start call on the Eagles.
The final stop by linebackers Jack Campbell and Trevor Nowaske even gave the Lions a late opportunity at a comeback after making the key fourth-down play.
Detroit couldn’t manage to get enough points on the board, but kept the Eagles from moving the chains consistently.
While it’s still an incredibly high-percentage play for the Eagles, the Lions came in and made it just about as ineffective as any team to this point.
The referees handing out a rare penalty to Philadelphia on the play certainly caught the attention of the Eagles and has them taking notice of how they run it and teams are playing it.
“They’re honing in on it,” Hurts said. “Very, very strict on the guard and the center and how they operate, and they got their eyes on it. So we just got to be as clean as possible and then go out there and find ways to convert it.”
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