Why the tush push is so hard to stop

HostIt looks like a messy pile of bodies or a slow-motion car crash, but for one team in particular, it's the most reliable yard in sports. We're talking about the tush push, that play where the quarterback gets shoved from behind by his teammates to pick up a tiny bit of ground. It seems so simple, yet it has caused a massive fight among the people who run pro football. I want to know why a play that looks so basic is actually a nightmare to defend.

HostWhy can one team do this almost every single time while the rest of the league just struggles to get it right?

GuestIt comes down to basic physics, but with a few hundred pounds of muscle added in. When the Philadelphia Eagles run this play, they aren't just running into a wall. They're turning themselves into a human wedge. The center gets as low as he possibly can, almost putting his nose in the dirt. When he does that, he gets underneath the defensive players. In football, there's an old saying that the low man wins. Because the Eagles start so low, they can lift the defenders up and out of the way. Then you have two or three players behind the quarterback who are literally launching him forward like a human cannonball.

HostBut if the defense knows exactly what's coming, why can't they just put their biggest guys right there and push back even harder?

GuestThey try, believe me. You see three hundred pound men diving at the gaps, but the math is against them. The offensive line knows exactly when the ball is going to be snapped, so they get that first split second of movement. That head start is everything. Plus, the Eagles have a quarterback in Jalen Hurts who's famously strong. He can squat six hundred pounds. So you aren't just pushing a guy who's waiting for help. You're pushing a guy who's already a powerhouse, and then you add two more guys shoving him from behind. It creates so much force in such a small space that there's nowhere for the defense to go but backward.

HostIt still feels like a bit of a cheat code. If it's just about strength and being low, why hasn't every other team mastered it yet?

GuestWell, that's the thing. A lot of teams tried it last year and they actually failed quite a bit. It's not just about being big. It's about the specific people the Eagles have on that line. Their center for years was a guy who was a master at finding the right angles. You also have to have a quarterback who's willing to take those hits. Most teams are terrified of their star player being at the bottom of a pile with two thousand pounds of meat on top of him. The Eagles found a way to make it a science, while everyone else is just kind of guessing.

HostThat brings up the big fight the league had. A lot of coaches and owners wanted this play gone. Was the push for a ban really about the players getting hurt, or was it just because people thought the play was boring to watch?

GuestIt was a bit of both. The official reason people brought up was safety. When you have that many people diving at legs and piling on top of each other, the chance for a neck or a knee to get twisted is high. But if you look at the numbers, there actually weren't more injuries on this play than on a normal punt or a kickoff. The real heat came from the fact that it felt unfair. It felt like it took the skill out of the game. If it's third down and one yard to go, and you know the other team is going to get it ninety percent of the time, it kind of ruins the tension. People started calling it a rugby play, not a football play.

HostI don't buy that it takes the skill out. If it was that easy, like you said, everyone would do it. Is it possible the league was just annoyed that one team found a loop hole they couldn't close?

GuestThere's definitely some truth to that. The NFL loves balance. They want every team to feel like they have a chance to stop the other guys. The tush push broke the math of the game. Usually, if you're at the one yard line, the defense has a real shot at a stand. With this play, the one yard line basically became the end zone. It changed how coaches made decisions. They would go for it on fourth down way more often because they knew they had this weapon in their pocket. That shifted the strategy of the whole game, and some of the old school leaders in the league hated how it looked.

HostSo they voted on it, and they decided to keep it for now. Did they just give up on trying to find a way to stop it?

GuestThey realized that banning a play just because one team is great at it's a slippery slope. Instead, they're watching the data. Defenses are also starting to get creative. We saw players trying to leap over the entire line to grab the quarterback before he could get shoved. It didn't work very often, and it was actually pretty dangerous, but it showed that the game is trying to evolve. The league is betting that eventually, some defensive coach will figure out a way to wedge the wedge.

HostIt seems like the real test will be what happens now that the Eagles have lost some of their key players on that line.

GuestThat's the big question because if the success rate drops even a little bit, the calls to ban it'll probably go away on their own.

HostThe pile of bodies in the dirt might look like a mess, but it turns out the whole game is waiting to see if anyone can finally stand their ground against it.