Eagles’ tush push will NOT be outlawed in 2023

Mar 26, 2023 - 12:16 AM

The Tush Push is here to stay! (Well, for now.)

After some reports and rumors this offseason that the technique the Eagles utilize for their QB sneak would be outlawed, the rule change did not make it onto the ballot for the NFL league meeting next week, which means it will still be legal in 2023.

The Eagles have a roughly 93 percent success rate with their QB sneaks and for good reason. Head coach Nick Sirianni has talked about how often they rep it in practice, mixed with the players they have to execute it at a high level, plus the variety of things they do with it. It’s not something exclusive to the Eagles, so while teams have had a hard time defending it, that’s not really Philly’s problem to deal with — and at least for now, the league seems to agree.

As our own Dave Mangels explained:

“The reason the Eagles run it is because they have a QB who can squat 600 lbs. They’re not exploiting the rules, they’re taking advantage of the gifts of their player. And they’re taking advantage of the changing nature of football. As the running game is continually de-emphasized, teams are building their rosters to get at the QB, not stop the run, so defensive tackles are getting smaller. The 340+ DT is still around but is being slowly phased out of the game, and that gives offenses an advantage in running in short yardage.”

For a variety of reasons, it would have been silly to outlaw something that isn’t a safety to risk to players and would have been voted on to simply stop the Eagles from being insanely effective. If the rest of the league doesn’t like Jalen Hurts moving the sticks nearly every, single time, then maybe they should get better at defending it — or maybe other offenses should take a look at what they’re doing and try to do it better.