The Eagles have applied for a trademark for “Brotherly Shove.” The question is: Will the play remain legal beyond this season?
The quarterback push play, which some call the tush push, drew some pushback after last season when the Eagles converted on 37 of the 41 times they ran it. The Competition Committee reviewed it and discussed it during the offseason but didn’t make a rule proposal to ban it.
The league, though, continues to look at it.
“There’ll be more data. Whether there’s injuries or not, there will be success rates; there will be teams that will have an opinion,” McKay said, via Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press. “Last year, we did talk about it a lot. There were enough teams to say it’s one year; let’s see it, and leave it alone. So we did, and I’m sure it’ll be back again. But I just don’t want to get in the business of predicting because I really don’t know what the outcome will be. I do know it will be talked about.”
The play became legal in the NFL in 2005 when the league removed language in the rule book prohibiting pushing offensive players.
No team has done it as successfully as the Eagles on short-yardage plays. Quarterback Jalen Hurts is pushed from behind — usually by tight end Dallas Goedert, running back D’Andre Swift and wide receiver A.J. Brown — and no defense has found a way to consistently stop it.
The Giants tried to push Daniel Jones on a fourth-and-one attempt during a Monday night game against the Seahawks and center John Michael Schmitz and tight end Daniel Bellinger both were injured on that play.
While some, including Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, have called for the league to ban the play, it might not have the support of 24 owners. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said earlier Tuesday he likes the quarterback push play even after the Chargers stopped quarterback Dak Prescott on a fourth-down tush push.
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