Hall of Famer shares 2 ways to stop Eagles’ tush push play

Dec 20, 2020; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (2) prior to the game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Eagles have been virtually unstoppable over the past two years with their variation of the quarterback sneak, but one Hall of Fame offensive lineman believes he knows how teams can put an end to the play.

Former Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas took to social media on Monday morning to share his thoughts on stopping the so-called “tush push” play. He said there are two things defenses can do. One is to fight fire with fire by having the linebackers push the backsides of the defensive linemen in front of them. The other would be to have the outside linebackers race off the edge and tackle the players who are pushing Jalen Hurts across the line of scrimmage.

I’ve studied the tush push…two ways to stop it:

1) the LBs need to push the “tush” of the DL in front of them. Watch the old school FG block plays

2) the outside LBs need to run around the edge and tackle the @eagles QB pushers

Do those two things and the play is dead…

— Joe Thomas (@joethomas73) October 23, 2023

That sounds a lot easier said than done. In the second scenario, the linebackers would have to time the snap perfectly and somehow get into the backfield before Hurts is pushed by his teammates. That seems like it would be quite difficult to do.

Some people feel that the Eagles’ sneak, which is now commonly referred to as the “Brotherly Shove,” should be banned. The NFL and NFL Players Association are going to examine the play again this offseason.

The common misconception is that teams around the NFL have just as much success with the “tush push” as the Eagles. That is not true. It goes without saying that Philadelphia would be negatively impacted more than any other team if the play is banned. Nick Sirianni had a message for the NFL about it following his team’s win on Sunday night.