After attempts to ban the tush push in the offseason failed, the Eagles’ signature short-yardage play is controversial again after Sunday’s win over the Chiefs.

The Eagles used the tush push successfully a few times, including Jalen Hurts’ decisive fourth-quarter touchdown that helped Philadelphia to a 20-17 win.

But since that touchdown, during which it appears a couple Eagles linemen jump early without a flag, many in the NFL community have called once again for the tush push to be banned.

Among those who weighed in? Former Steelers coach Bill Cowher. The Super Bowl champion lobbied hard against the tush push in a Monday appearance on The Dan Patrick Show.

“I have been against the play for two years,” Cowher said. “I’ve made my feelings quite known. It’s not a football play. It’s a scrum. When they had that in rugby, Dan, you know what they did? They eliminated the scrum. They took it out because it wasn’t a safe play. We keep it in the NFL. Make sense of that one. … Are we going to have to wait for some catastrophic injury to change it? I don’t think it’s a good-looking play.

“I know that Philadelphia is good at it. It has nothing to do with the Philadelphia Eagles for me. But, you know, I think you saw that play yesterday. How many times did we see it because of our technology today that they are leaving before the snap. I don’t know how we can somehow look at that play and understand that it is an injury waiting to happen, I think, personally, and it isn’t even a good-looking play.”

Now, Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata, a former rugby player from Australia, has disagreed with the tush push-scrum comparison in the past.

“It’s got nothing to do with any rugby movements,” Mailata said in 2023. “I learned the ‘Brotherly Shove’ here with the Eagles. I didn’t incorporate anything or have anything carry over.”

There’s also evidence that the tush push causes more injuries than any other play.

Regardless, expect more NFL talking heads to chime in while the tush push is back in the news cycle — and expect the Eagles to continue to defend the play.

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