If you ever played an American football video game, you probably had a few plays in your back pocket that you knew always worked.
Someone would get open on four verts. A quick slant could abuse the AI and pick up an easy few yards every time. And, if you were on whatever-and-short, you just had to QB Sneak it.
At some point over the last few years, the Philadephia Eagles must’ve talked to a Madden player.
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Since Jalen Hurts took over as the full-time quarterback of the NFC powerhouse, their use of the sneak – perhaps you prefer ‘Tush Push’ or ‘Brotherly Shove’, the latter referencing Philadelphia’s nickname of ‘The City of Brotherly Love’ – has only grown in stature and success.
The play was dominant during the Eagles’ run to last season’s Super Bowl but the biggest stage in US sport was also its breakout moment, as Hurts went six-of-six on conversions and scored three touchdowns.
At that point even casual fans knew about the play – and, in a copycat league like the NFL, we all knew it was going to grow even further in the 2023/24 season.
Through eight weeks there had been a massive 149 QB Sneak attempts across the league, per Pro Football Focus, up from 106 the year prior, 102 in 2021, and 71 in 2020.
And why wouldn’t you when the play is so incredibly successful? Since 2017, sneaks have worked 85.9 per cent of the time on third or fourth-and-one, with all other plays at 69.1 per cent success.
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But that incredible rate is actually deflated, because the Eagles are that much better at it. Through eight weeks of this season, they were 17 of 21 (81 per cent) converting QB Sneaks; the rest of the league was at 72.7 per cent.
It’s worth noting there’s a difference between a pure QB Sneak and the Eagles’ butt-based play, and it dates back to an infamous 2005 college football moment.
The superpowered University of Southern California (USC) Trojans were trying to hold onto their No.1 ranking against rivals Notre Dame, and trailed by three points with just a few seconds left. At the goalline, the Trojans ran a sneak, with QB Matt Leinart initially being stopped but earning some help from behind via halfback Reggie Bush.
The ‘Bush Push’, as it became known, was illegal; for many decades it was against the rules for teammates to aid the runner and push them forwards.
One of the most famous NFL games in history, the 1967 Ice Bowl between Green Bay and Dallas, was won via a Bart Starr sneak – with his running back Chuck Mercein appearing to signal a touchdown behind him, but actually showing to the officials he was not helping his quarterback.
Perhaps coincidentally, in 2006 – the year after the Bush Push – the NFL removed the rule restricting players from assisting the runner. Thus push plays became legal; it just happened to take a decade and a half for the Eagles to make them a big deal.
At the centre of the NFL’s hottest play – well, a couple of guys over on the left, to be precise – is an Aussie, superstar left tackle Jordan Mailata.
Jordan Mailata got low for this Tush Push touchdown against the Dolphins.Source: Supplied
Perhaps because of his involvement, given his background as a former rugby league junior, or just because of the look of the thing, a consensus started to grow among many NFL critics – this ‘rugby play’ was unfair, or dangerous, and had to be banned.
Veteran NFL scribe Peter King declared the play was an “abomination”, allowed because of an “idiotic rule”, and reported heavily on discussions among the league’s Competition Committee about potentially outlawing it.
“Two things committee members don’t like: One, this isn’t a football play,” King wrote.
“Two, the potential for injury. It’s only a matter of time before a defender acting as a projectile flies over the scrum and contacts a QB helmet-to-helmet with force, or a QB getting pushed by 450 pounds of pushers meets similar resistance from defensive tackles and separates a shoulder.”
Of course, you could make a similar argument for any play where the offensive and defensive lines collide, trying to protect and/or stop the runner. (As in, any running play.)
American football is intrinsically violent; that doesn’t mean rules to make it safer aren’t reasonable, or even morally required, but to outlaw one play over all others does seem a reaction to one team’s remarkable success.
Mailata certainly doesn’t feel the same way as King.
“Who’s saying that (it’s a rugby play)? I mean, certainly I don’t understand why you’d say that. It’s got nothing to do with any rugby movements,” he declared on the Kelce brothers’ podcast last week.
“It’s not a rugby play.”
Asked about the difference between a rugby scrum and the play, Mailata declared: “Dude, a scrum is much harder than the Tush Push or Brotherly Shove.
“A scrum is way harder. You have to essentially interlock – there’s three guys, four guys, and two, you’ve got to interlock with guys and then you push.”
“It’s definitely not for show, bro. You can see sometimes when they push, they collapse straight away because there’s too much force. If they don’t hit it right, it’s why teams can’t sustain it.
“It’s definitely not a rugby play.”
The Aussie also dismissed suggestions he, and thus the Eagles, are good at the play because of his rugby background – in fact declaring he gained nothing from his childhood sporting exploits.
“I learned the Brotherly Shove here at the Eagles. I didn’t incorporate anything, like to carry over. You (centre Jason Kelce), JP (veteran lineman Jason Peters) and Stout (line coach Jeff Stoutland) taught me the Brotherly Shove,” Mailata said.
“Let’s be honest, the Eagles have always been good at running sneaks, and that’s where I learned it from. And we just carried it over, (coach Nick) Sirianni sees that we’re really good at it because we’ve always been really good.
“Now I just do whatever you taught me all those years ago. That’s what I do now. I don’t want to give it away, but I just do what you essentially taught me and it works every time.”
Jalen Hurts #1 of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrates with Jordan Mailata #68 of the Philadelphia Eagles and Zach Pascal #3 of the Philadelphia Eagles after running for a two yard touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium on February 12, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
As for a ban?
“I get it, but then I don’t get it,” Mailata said.
“I understand the frustrations, if you were getting destroyed like that, I would understand.
“But I don’t know why – more people just need to run it. They’re trying – run it better.
But as Chiefs superstar Travis Kelce replied: “Are we gonna ban a fade (route) to AJ Brown because it works every time? Probably not.”
If the play is going to be banned, it’d happen next off-season, when the Competition Committee meets again.
The issue is, even if it’s approved, three-quarters (24) of the league’s 32 owners would need to vote yes – and getting those billionaires to agree on anything (except moves which line their pockets) is incredibly difficult.
Here’s the thing; it’s not like banning the pushing-the-runner element (which is the law which can easily be changed) would stop the QB Sneak from being successful. Even now, plenty of teams have success with the play without the element of getting behind the signal-caller and shoving him into the pile.
The power of guys like Mailata would still be critical to its success, just like any short-yardage play. And the problem of ‘it’s just an auto-win play’ would barely be solved.
So is there even really a point?
2023-11-14 20:02:02
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