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In the wake of Philadelphia once again facing immense backlash for its use of the tush push, retired Eagles center Jason Kelce offered his thoughts on the future of the franchise’s signature play — and it’s not what you think.
The Eagles drew more scrutiny after deploying the controversial play seven times during a 20-17 win over the Kansas City Chiefs — in a highly anticipated Super Bowl rematch — in Week 2. Kelce, who participated in many tush pushes during his 13-year NFL career, admitted that he believes the continued criticism will likely lead to the play’s eventual demise.
“I think the play is done,” Kelce said Friday. “I think that there’s a lot of people within the league, at multiple levels, that want the play to be gone, which is fine. I think we’ll still go back to running quarterback sneak, and I’m sure they’ll figure out ways to be successful. I’m not really that concerned with it, to be very candid.”
There’s plenty of criticism around the NFL these days about the play — loathed just about everywhere but Philadelphia — and the Super Bowl champion Eagles have had enough.
More teams complain about the tush push than actually try and run the rugby-style scrum deemed so unstoppable that the Green Bay Packers proposed banning it. Their effort fell two votes short at the NFL’s spring owners meeting.
“My argument to [the criticism] is: the defensive position, they will gang deal with, they will push one another on prime of a working again,” Kelce added. “Why can’t I help my man? So, I feel that there’s an argument available there and that’ll fall wherever it does.”
With a reprieve, the Eagles are working up the tush push play whole with little regard for what anyone says. Eagles QB Jalen Hurts scored a landing on a tush push en path to sending the Chiefs to their first 0-2 begin since 2014.
The subsequent likelihood for the Eagles (2-0) to make use of the tush push, additionally known as the “Brotherly Shove,” comes towards the Los Angeles Rams (2-0) on Sunday (1 p.m. ET on FOX) in a playoff rematch from final season.
[MORE: Is the NFL Over Eagles’ Tush Push? One Source: ‘Let’s Not Let Them Cheat At It’]
No instance summed up how a lot the tush push generally is a ache within the butt to the opposition fairly like when the Eagles used it to maddening perfection towards Washington within the NFC Championship Sport final season. The Commanders jumped offside 4 instances in a sequence of 5 performs whereas attempting to cease the tush push — incomes them a warning from the referee that he might award the Eagles a landing if the Commanders did it once more.
The Eagles transformed 96.6% of the time when working the play in fourth-and-1 conditions and have tried it 116 instances total since 2022, in keeping with a report from ESPN.
That’s the unimaginable half. Groups know the tush push is coming, followers at Lincoln Monetary Subject go wild when the Eagles line up for it, and but defenses nonetheless can’t cease it.
Kelce agreed this week that the tush was beginning to push the sting of honest play. “I feel they’re attempting to time it and going too early now and lining it up too shut,” he mentioned. “I sincerely hope (they) get again to working it like earlier than to keep away from all this nonsense over the remainder of the season.
“I don’t have the bandwidth for a full season of impartial zone dialogue.”
However the play isn’t going anyplace — a minimum of not this season.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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