The tush push isn’t for everyone. There’s a big difference between Jalen Hurts running it, and Nick Mullens giving it a try. Everyone is trying to copy the Philadelphia Eagles’ signature play, but only the Eagles make it look automatic. The Bengals had a tremendous comeback win on Saturday and the key sequence came on two tush push quarterback sneaks in overtime. Mullens tried getting less than a yard twice for a key first down, and the Bengals stopped him cold twice. On third down he was close, and the spot can be debated. The official on the top of […]
The tush push isn't for everyone. There's a big difference between Jalen Hurts running it, and Nick Mullens giving it a try.Everyone is trying to copy the Philadelphia Eagles' signature play, but only the Eagles make it look automatic. The Bengals had a tremendous comeback win on Saturday and the key sequence came on two tush push quarterback sneaks in overtime. Mullens tried getting less than a yard twice for a key first down, and the Bengals stopped him cold twice.On third down he was close, and the spot can be debated. The official on the top of the screen came in ahead of the first-down line, the official on the bottom was behind it, and the official spot was behind the line. The NFL will at some point have to pay for the technology to spot the ball more accurately, but it hasn't happened yet and the Vikings faced a fourth down.Everyone knew what was coming. But there's only one team that seems unstoppable running it, maybe because Hurts squats more than 600 pounds. Mullens took the snap on fourth-and-inches and got no movement forward at all. It took a while for the officials to spot the ball but when they did, it was short. Cincinnati hit a big play to Tyler Boyd after that and they kicked a field goal to win it.There has been a debate about the tush push, a.k.a. the "brotherly shove" when Philly is running it. There will be more debate about outlawing it in the offseason. But the argument also needs to include that when the Eagles run it, it's almost flawless, and when everyone else does it it's a competitive play. The Eagles shouldn't be penalized for being very good at a specialized play.Ask the Vikings. They just needed a few inches to get a first down and possibly win the game in overtime on Saturday. And the so-called unstoppable play was stopped. Twice.
