The Philadelphia Eagles relied heavily on the tush push to beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, but veteran offensive lineman Jordan Mailata is tired of hearing people say it is the reason his team won.
The Eagles gave themselves a two-score lead midway through the fourth quarter of their 20-10 win over the Chiefs with a successful tush push on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Replays showed that Philadelphia committed a blatant false start on the play, but the officials did not call it.
Jalen Hurts also picked up a crucial first down with a tush push on 3rd-and-1 at around the two-minute warning to ice the game. Some would argue that the Eagles would not have won had the so-called “Brotherly Shove” been banned. Mailata ripped that narrative during an interview with SportsRadio 94WIP on Tuesday.
“I understand it. I understand the outrage. What I don’t understand is them using it as an excuse to why we won the game,” Mailata said. “I think it’s incredibly disrespectful to our defense and our special teams who balled out, my brothers on defense and special teams who balled out that game, who had our backs when we weren’t moving the ball or we weren’t doing anything.
“That kind of irks me a little bit. That pisses me off, because we give so much to this game and to kind of base it off of a short-yardage play that is a football play. To say that we won the game off that but not how our defense played and not how our special teams have played, putting us in those positions, I think it’s bullcrap. I just think it’s rubbish. It’s absolute rubbish, man.”
Jordan Mailata thinks it is "bullcrap" that members of the national media believe the Eagles NEED the tush push to win.
— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) September 16, 2025
"It makes my blood boil just thinking about it." pic.twitter.com/x1YBhxwwhx
The Eagles gained possession on the drive where Hurts scored his tush-push touchdown by coming away with an interception near the goal line. Kansas City was trailing 13-10 at the time and looking to tie or take the lead, but Patrick Mahomes threw a pass that deflected off of Travis Kelce and into the hands of Eagles safety Andrew Mukuba.
Mailata is correct that the tush push is not the only reason the Eagles beat the Chiefs in the Super Bowl rematch, but it was certainly a massive factor in the game. Much of the outrage stems from Philly getting away with a head start on the play, too. That is likely something that the NFL will try to keep a closer eye on.
One prominent member of the media went off on the NFL for not banning the tush push, which is almost certainly one of the things that annoyed Mailata.
