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NFL says Eagles should've been flagged for fourth-quarter 'tush-push' conversion in win over Chiefs: Report

The "tush push" that caused uproar in Arrowhead Stadium — and, really, across the football world, outside of Southeastern Pennsylvania — during last week's Super Bowl rematch took place at the goal line midway through the fourth quarter.

Seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady called it out on the Fox broadcast. Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid seemed to allude to it after his team's 20-17 loss to the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles.

Eagles left guard Landon Dickerson and right guard Tyler Steen appeared to false start before quarterback Jalen Hurts burrowed his way in for a 1-yard touchdown that gave the Eagles a 10-point lead.

But that wasn't the only tush push the Eagles should've been penalized on in Week 2. The Associated Press reportedly obtained a 19-minute officiating training video the league sent to officials and teams after the first two weeks of the season.

During the video, Ramon George, the NFL’s vice president of officiating training and development, pointed to a fourth-quarter tush push false start that the refs missed, per the AP.

With 5:34 remaining in the quarter, and the Eagles leading 20-10 after Hurts' touchdown plunge, Steen false started on a 3rd-and-1 tush push that extended the drive, which drained some clock and made a Chiefs comeback that much more improbable.

“Prior to the snap, looks like we have movement by the right guard," George said, per the AP. "We also have movement coming across from the defensive side.

"This is a very hard play to officiate. I get it. You have a defender who tries to punch the ball but more so we have a false start coming from the right guard. You want to make sure that we officiate these plays tight and make sure that every aspect of the offensive team is legal and any movement, any lineman that’s not correct, we want to shut it down as a false start.”

George reportedly pointed to several other non-tush push plays that were officiated correctly or incorrectly through the first two weeks of the season in the training video.

But the tush push has dominated officiating discourse this week after the Eagles got away with multiple false starts against the Chiefs, and after the play was saved at an NFL's owners meeting in Eagan, Minnesota, this past May. An amended proposal from the Green Bay Packers to ban the tush push, which Philadelphia has been using more effectively than any other team for years now, failed to pass. The proposal needed 24 votes to pass but fell two votes short of approval.

Since, it's been under the microscope even more than it was before. The Eagles remain proud of the play, notably even celebrating a forced fumble and recovery against the Cowboys in Week 1 with a tush push celebration orchestrated by its defense.

In Week 2, however, Philadelphia's "Brotherly Shove" was the subject of more scrutiny, including in the game's final moments when Hurts sealed the deal with the rugby-inspired sneak. He got the yard he needed to set up a pair of final kneel downs, but the Chiefs in the pile claimed they had forced and recovered a fumble. Although that notion was disproven by replay review, Fox rules analyst Dean Blandino didn't hold back on sharing his feelings about the play.

The Eagles aren't budging from using the tush push, though. Left tackle Jordan Mailata made that clear this week during an appearance with 94WIP.

While the 2024 second-team All-Pro said he understands the outrage about the play from non-Eagles fans, he doesn't understand the belief that the tush push was the difference in Philadelphia's Week 2 win over the Chiefs.

“You know I think it's bull crap,” said Mailata, who explained that he thinks that talking point takes away from the game-changing efforts of the Eagles' defense and special teams. “I just think it's rubbish. Absolute rubbish, man. It makes my blood boil just thinking about it."

The Eagles ran the tush push six times against the Chiefs last week. They picked up four first downs and scored a touchdown along the way.