CNN
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Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said Tuesday that a Green Bay Packers-led initiative to get the so-called “tush push” banned in the NFL is unfair and a “little insulting.”
The tush push – also known as “The Brotherly Shove,” among many other nicknames – is a running play in which the ball is snapped to the quarterback, who then plunges forward into the offensive line. While the linemen push forward, the quarterback is then pushed from behind by a tight end and a running back. The combined efforts usually result in a short-yardage gain that is enough for either a first down or a touchdown and the Eagles’ version of it is usually unstoppable.
The Packers, who were beaten handily by the Eagles in the wild-card round of the playoffs as Philadelphia went on to win Super Bowl LIX, want the play banned. The team’s president and CEO have referred to the tush push as “bad for the game” and general manager Brian Gutenkunst confirmed Tuesday that the team had submitted a proposal to ban the play.
Sirianni said Tuesday that he feels that attitude is unfair.
“It’s a skill that our team has because of the players that we have, the way that the coaches coach it. … Again, there’s just so much time put into it. The fact that it’s a successful play for the Eagles and people want to take that away is a little unfair,” he said at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis.
Multiple NFL teams run variations of the play and Sirianni said that it’s far from a sure success. The reason that the Eagles’ version of the play works is due to the attention to detail that goes into it.
“I almost feel a little insulted because we work so hard at that play,” he said. “The amount of things that we’ve looked into how to coach that play, the fundamentals. There’s a thousand plays out there but it comes down to how you teach the fundamentals and how the players go through and do the fundamentals.”
Sirianni continued, “I can’t tell you how many times we practice the snap, we practice the play … the fact that it’s an automatic thing, we work really, really hard and our guys are talented at this play. It’s a little insulting to say we’re good at it so it’s automatic.”
The comments seemed an answer to remarks made by Green Bay president and CEO Mark Murphy, who posted on the team’s website after that playoff loss that he is “not a fan” of the play.
He added: “There is no skill involved and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less. … We should go back to prohibiting the push of the runner. This would bring back the traditional QB sneak. That worked pretty well for Bart Starr and the Packers in the Ice Bowl.”
The play will be a topic of conversation going into next month when the league’s competition committee will meet to discuss changes to the game. The NFL owners could vote on the proposition at the annual league meeting set for March 30-April 2 in Palm Beach, Florida.
Gutenkunst told reporters on Tuesday that he didn’t really know much about the team’s proposal: “I’m aware that we did (submit it) but really haven’t had many discussions about it.” He added that he had not been having sleepless nights over the success of the Eagles’ play.
“I know we’re not very successful against it, I know that,” he said. “To be honest with you, I have not put that much thought into it. It’s been around for a while; we’ve used it in different fashions with our tight end. I think there will be a lot of discussions around it. I’ve got to look at some of the information around it such as injury rates, but we’ll see.”