There’s nothing like a defender being triggered by something an offense repeatedly does successfully. Pittsburgh Steelers tackle Cam Heyward became visibly defensive (see what I did there?) when sports journalist Mina Kimes asked his opinion on the Philadelphia Eagles‘ quarterback sneak plays, better known as the “Tush Push.”
“One of the reasons why I like the Eagles is their aggression on fourth down,” said Kimes on the Super Bowl preview edition of Not Just Football with Cam Heyward on February 9. “The sneak is basically unstoppable. Do you think it should be illegal what they do on the sneak? For those who don’t know, the two guys getting behind Jalen Hurts and pushing him, two cheeks. As a defensive lineman, do you think it’s fair?”
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“It’s illegal, and they’re never set…,” a fired-up Heyward said.
Kimes and Not Just Football producer Hayden Walsh chimed in, explaining that it is legal.
“If you watch, the O-lineman are never set.”
“I’m triggered,” Heyward said, smiling.
Does Heyward feel like the NFL should change the rule and ban the play?
“Yes, it should be changed,” Heyward argued. “[Defenders] are never given time, [the offense] hurry up to the ball, and no one’s ever set, they’re rolling forward. I have this on tape, we can watch it. We can find some tape on this. I’m always pissed off in these fourth downs because it’s always so skewed to the offense.”
According to NFL.com, aiding the runner used to be a 10-yard illegal use of hands penalty until the NFL changed the rule in 2006 to allow teammates to push the ball carrier forward. Realizing the play was virtually unstoppable, the Eagles exploited the rule change.
Another Steelers Opinion on the QB Sneak Play
Cam Heyward’s former teammate, outside linebacker Arthur Moats, has mixed feelings on the subject.
“It’s tough, tough, tough. They’re not (the first team to use this play), but they’re one of the ones that do it at a high level, and it was in the Super Bowl,” Moats said on the February 14 episode of The Arthur Moats Experience. “Once again, you see a play that looks like it’s unstoppable. Because Philly started to weaponize it in this game where you really couldn’t stop it, they would go for it every fourth down.”
Moats believes if the QB sneak isn’t banned, it’s for one simple reason: The NFL wants offenses to be unstoppable.
“I’m like what’s the difference? You want to ban that but y’all talking about taking away a hip tackle or we can’t touch the receiver, you can’t hit a guy like that. This is what y’all want, y’all want the offense to be unstoppable,” Moats added.
Eagles with Jalen Hurts are the greatest QB sneak team of all time.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And the Eagles have had success time and time again with the play. The Eagles had a league-high 33 attempts (most by an NFL team since 1990), no team has run more sneaks this season than the Eagles, and all but four have been converted, according to 33rd Team.
But 2022 wasn’t the first season Philadelphia started using it. In their 2017 championship season, they were 11-for-11, converted 8 of 9 in 2018, 13 of 15 in 2019 and 10 of 13 in 2020.
“I’m like why would you run anything other than that dang gone QB sneak? Because the way [Jason] Kelce is able to barrel crawl and get underneath, that’s your leverage right there. They’re going to bear crawl Hurts over the top, that’s cool until your quarterback’s hit in the face.”
It might not take a quarterback injury to ban the “Tush Push.” Per 33rd Team’s Ari Meirov, former referee-turned-rules analyst for Fox Sports Dean Blandino says the NFL competition committee might consider eliminating it.
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Steelers DT Cam Heyward ‘Triggered’ by Unstoppable Play