The Super Bowl rematch between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday didn’t exactly paint a lot of happy faces across the NFL world. Unless, of course, you were rocking green and silver.
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Midway through the fourth quarter, Jalen Hurts and the Birds went back to their bread-and-butter and dialed up the now infamous Tush Push at the one-yard line. And those six points came too easily, thanks to a missed false start that slipped right past the refs.
Before Hurts burrowed his way into the end zone, and right before the snap, both left guard Landon Dickerson and right guard Tyler Steen looked like they jumped early. Tom Brady, who was calling the game, couldn’t believe that the officials let this slide, saying on air: “They missed that one pretty bad.”
But what do the players who’ve actually been in the trenches think? Enter Travis Kelce of the Chiefs, who played the Sunday game, and his brother Jason, who was arguably one of the architects behind the Tush Push.
On the latest episode of his podcast, New Heights, Jason expressed that all this Tush Push chatter is being blown up online when it really shouldn’t be. But he also gets why it’s happening, especially after that fourth-quarter play that gave the Eagles a 20-10 lead.
Jason then clarified that while people look at that play in isolation and claim the Tush Push is full of false starts, nothing could be further from the truth. It all happens in the blink of an eye, and those so-called false starts (outside of last week’s) can only be spotted if you’re breaking it down by the millisecond.
“People love to point out the false start thing. I think it is very difficult when you see these things in real time. I think people don’t realize how fraction of a second we’re talking about here,” the future Hall of Famer said.
Travis agreed, noting that missed calls happen all the time in a game and that, really, it’s not that big of a deal. “Yeah, I hear you. Either you get caught or you don’t… And things like this happen, refs miss call all the f**king time,” he chimed in.
Jason says offensive players have to time their moves perfectly, and that doesn’t excuse people calling every millisecond of advanced movement a false start. Sure, linemen sometimes jump early, but that’s also part of the game … you’d rather be early than late, because the latter can cause bigger problems.
That said, Jason argues that his former team will now be under a microscope, with refs scrutinizing every play down to the atomic level. Travis added that now, with people snapping pics and sending videos to the league, once the plays are reviewed, refs are likely to start throwing more flags, sooner rather than later.
That always happens, too. Even when a single player misbehaves, refs get notified ahead of the game, and they can warn him during or before the game. Since the Tush Push is bigger than just one player’s actions, the Eagles might be in for a storm.
“Whether it’s a guy that tugs in routes, a wide receiver that uses his hands and arms as leverage, if guys are doing something that’s playing that line of legal or illegal on the field, those tapes get sent into the NFL to review. Those tapes get eyeballs from the NFL, from these refs, and they get notes. Then, the refs next week, when they go into the game, ‘Hey, 87, make sure you’re not using your arms at the top of your breaks.”
It turns out precautions are already in place. Ramon George, the NFL’s vice president of officiating training and development, sent a 19-minute video to game officials highlighting the Eagles’ false starts in Week 2. He basically showed them what was missed and what can’t be overlooked anymore.
Eagles fans, the Tush Push era sure seems to be nearing its end. Back to the good ‘ol QB sneak?
