PHILADELPHIA – The tush push is dying, at least for the Eagles. It just hasn’t been very good. The trademark play they made famous, or infamous, depending on your perspective, came into the season successfully converting 96 percent of them into first downs or touchdowns.
It hasn’t been that way this year, when it’s been more of an unbrotherly shove. Have you noticed any outrage from the anti-tush push crowd toward the play this season now that the Eagles aren’t as good at it? Of course not, especially after the Eagles failed to make it work on what may have been the game-defining play in a 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears in the NFL’s standalone game on Black Friday.
It’s not that they failed to convert, it’s that Jalen Hurts fumbled away the ball.
“It sounds like it got knocked out when we were trying to push the pile forward,” said center Cam Jurgens. “I couldn’t really tell. You guys (reporters in the postgame locker room) probably have a better view from the TV cameras. I couldn’t really see how it got knocked out. We just have to be better. That’s not a play where we want to turn the ball over.”
Let’s backup a minute.
Jalyx Hunt had just picked off Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams. It was the outside linebacker/edge rusher’s second interception of the season, and he returned this one 11 yards to the Bears’ 36. It gave the Eagles the ball back with 6:36 to go in the third quarter.
Jalyx Hunt Gave Eagles A Chance To Take Lead
Eagles Jalyx Hunt | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI
The Eagles’ offense had just scored its first touchdown of the game on their previous possession, moving 92 yards in 1:54, finishing with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Hurts to A.J. Brown.
Jake Elliott missed the PAT, so the Bears still led, but Philly’s deficit was just a point at 10-9. Then came Hunt’s pick followed by three straight runs from Saquon Barkley totaling 24 yards to Chicago’s 12.
From there, they faced third-and-one. Now, you could argue that they should have had a first down, but Barkley’s forward progress was ruled stopped a yard short, though he finished the run well inside the 10.
No, biggie. The tush push was coming. That’s when Hurts fumbled, and the Bears recovered. A chance to take the lead and the momentum was gone, lost in a dogpile of tangled players. The Bears essentially ended the game with a 12-play, 87-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes to score a touchdown, giving them a 17-9 lead with just over 12 minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
So, the refs stopped Barkley’s forward progress, but not Hurts’. Right or wrong, the turnover would never have happened last year. This year, it did.
“I was hoping that (his forward progress) was stopped, but it wasn’t,” said Hurts. “It was kind of similar to the New York (Giants) game except that they just didn’t blow the whistle as soon. That’s not to point the finger at anyone else. I mean, I have to hold onto the ball. It definitely presents itself as an issue, and it always has. It’s just never gotten us, and so (Friday) it got us, and it’s something that we and I need to tighten up.”
Perhaps the NFL’s full-court press in the offseason to ban the play is inside the heads of players and coaches. Maybe it’s an offensive line with a center in Jurgens, who had offseason back surgery and an in-season knee injury and concussion. Or that Mekhi Becton’s mammoth frame is no longer manning the right guard spot.
Whatever it is, the Eagles should mothball it the rest of the season.
“It’s becoming tougher and tougher,” said Hurts, “but ultimately, me holding onto the ball, that’s something I can control.”
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