The Philadelphia Eagles’ tush push play has received plenty of backlash from personalities surrounding the NFL. Some have even called for the play to be banned, as the concept of teams being able to push their quarterback through the first down line seems anathema to the spirit of the sport.
With the referees failing to spot a false start by Philadelphia on their Sunday victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, calls to ban the play have increased. According to those proposing an end to the play, it’s incredibly difficult for those officiating the game to get the calls right.
According to ESPN’s Peter Schrager, there’s been plenty of support to ban it from people in the NFL structure. The problem? There doesn’t seem to be an appropriate reason to do it.
During Sunday’s game, Tom Brady, who’s now an analyst with Fox Sports, took some time to criticize the playcalling of the Philadelphia Eagles. For him, the problem isn’t that the play could generate injuries or that it’s difficult to officiate. For the multiple-time Super Bowl champion, it just seems like a cheap play:
“It’s like (the Eagles) start every position at 1st and 9 because they’re stealing a yard with that play every time,” Brady said on September 14.
He also complained that at one point in the fourth quarter, the officials missed a false start by Philadelphia in a tush push, making it all the more difficult for the defense to stop the advance. The nature of the tush push itself seemed to make it more difficult to spot the false start.
Refs miss a false start on the Eagles on this tush push touchdown pic.twitter.com/3WbK8gkb5X
— Rate the Refs (@Rate_the_Refs) September 14, 2025
Later in the game, with the Eagles wanting to advance one yard to extend their drive and be able to take a knee to end the game, they ran the tush push once more. Chiefs players signaled that they had recovered the ball on a fumble. But like Fox Sports rules analyst Dean Blandino said, it was almost impossible to see what really happened:
“I am done with the tush push, guys,” Blandino said. “It’s a hard play to officiate like we’ve been talking about. They either ruled progress or that Hurts was down, really hard to see what’s happening with the football.”
“I am done with the tush push guys. It’s a hard play to officiate.” – @DeanBlandino pic.twitter.com/Qcg2jtx2I2
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 14, 2025
The Eagles ended up gaining the first down, and they won the game 20-17.
Jason Kelce Warns His Former Philadelphia Eagles Teammates About The Scrutiny the “Tush Push” will be under
Someone who knows a thing or two about the ‘Tush Push’ is former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce. Kelce was a key part of the Eagles’ offensive line back when the team introduced the ‘Tush Push’ play in 2022.
On Wednesday’s episode of “New Heights”, the podcast he holds alongside his brother and Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce, the retired offensive lineman weighed in on the controversy:
“They’re going to be under a microscope moving forward. Everybody is going to be looking at this because of what happened,” Kelce continued. “They’re saying they’re in the neutral zone, they’re saying they’re false starting because they slow it down to 1,000 frames per second. … They need to be very, very cautious because the calls are going to be starting to come, and they should be.”
Jason and Travis both weighed in on the latest controversy surrounding false starts on the Tush Push pic.twitter.com/xJr0OooXb7
— New Heights (@newheightshow) September 17, 2025
It’s telling that even someone critical to the play’s inception believes that the officials should further scrutinize it. It seems like the execution of the play this season could make or break its long-term prospects.
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