Eagles opponents can’t stop the quarterback push play, and the NFL hasn’t made a strong attempt to ban it.
So, the Eagles’ success rate on the Brotherly Shove play continues to be near perfect, above 90 percent, since they began using it regularly in 2022 for short-yardage plays.
Critics of the play, though, still are pushing for the play to be banned.
Packers president Mark Murphy, who is retiring in 2025, is among those who want to see the tush push out of the league.
“I am not a fan of this play,” Murphy said in his monthly Q&A column on the team website. “There is no skill involved and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less. The series of plays with the Commanders jumping offsides in the NFC Championship Game to try to stop the play was ridiculous. The referee even threatened to give the Eagles an automatic touchdown if the Commanders did not stop it. I would like to see the league prohibit pushing or aiding the runner [QB] on this play. There used to be a rule prohibiting this, but it is no longer enforced, because I believe it was thought to be too hard for the officials to see. The play is bad for the game, and 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.”
In the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship, the Commanders jumped offside three times with linebacker Frankie Luvu twice leaping over the line of scrimmage before the snap in an attempt to stop the Eagles from the 1-yard line. Referee Shawn Hochuli warned the Commanders after the third consecutive foul that officials had the power to award a touchdown.
The rule against “palpably unfair acts” has been on the books for decades, at least since 1942, but the league has never used it.
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