Jason Kelce once said that the Tush Push — the Eagles’ rendition of the quarterback sneak — worked 92 percent of the time, every time (roughly). Then there is the other 8 percent.
The Eagles seem to have encountered a Tush Push buzz saw against the Jacksonville Jaguars, whose defense stuffed both of their traditional attempts in the game with two-point conversions on Sunday night. The failed attempts in the second and third quarters ultimately affected the Eagles’ approach to short yardage situations later in the game. On fourth and 1 late in the third quarter, Jealousy hurts jumped back to attempt a pass (which he ultimately threw away) instead of dialing up their trusty play.
“They did a good job,” Coach Nick Sirianni said after the match. “Every time you get caught up in it, you think twice and try to go another way. You know, they got us. They did a good job of it. We’re going to have to do a better job as coaches to help them succeed.”
So what went wrong? In part, at least, it seemed like the Jaguars had a solid counter to the Eagles’ organized mass. The defensive line looked to exploit the offensive front, limiting the Eagles’ ability to generate forward movement. The Jaguars’ defense even formed a counter-wedge of its own, as the linebackers each shoved a defensive tackle at the line of scrimmage at the snap.
But Cam Jurgens hesitated to credit the Jaguars’ defense for its ability to stop the game. Instead, the starting center shifted the blame to the execution of the offense.
“We’ve got to make sure it’s better, it’s more coordinated from everybody and everybody’s moving together,” Jurgens said Thursday. “I don’t think it was as coordinated this last week. Make sure everyone is doing their job. It’s a tough piece to run. Everyone’s charging the box and it’s going to be tough, but we’ve got to be able to get it done, especially when you’re on the finish line.”
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Nailing that coordination can be tricky. Jurgens explained that the Eagles do not practice the game at full speed between the offense and defense given its high contact nature. Instead, the offensive line breaks it down on an individual level, as each player practices getting into the right position and executing the move.
Also, there have been some moving parts on the offensive line recently. For the past three weeks, the Eagles have been without the 6-foot-8, 365-pounder Jordan Mailatawhose pressure on the left tackle often paved the way over the marker or goal line for Hurts. Fred Johnson has assumed the starting role at left tackle in his absence, but he was only on the field for the first of the Eagles’ two Tush Push attempts.
The second attempt came immediately after Johnson injured his knee blocking for Hurts on his 18-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Jack Driscoll came off the bench for the second failed attempt on the two-point conversion, a task Jurgens called “tough” for anyone with cold legs.
“It’s not like it’s a play that’s like (expletive) system-oriented,” Jurgens said. “We’re up there moving and driving and I think Jordan Mailata is an incredible football player who does that. Honestly, does everything. He’s a great football player. But especially that play in general, he’s good at running it .”
While the two real Tush Push attempts failed, the Eagles successfully executed a variation of it early in the third quarter on third-and-1. The play looked similar to the one they were trying to run in the first quarter on fourth and 1, but Jack Stoll had incurred a false start penalty, which pushed the Eagles back 5 yards and forced them to punt.
On the third quarter fake sneak, the Eagles lined up for a traditional Tush Push with DeVonta SmithGrant Calcaterra and Kenneth Gainwell lined up in the backfield behind Hurts. Smith flicked outside to the right, bringing a defender with him, while Hurts ran after a trio of blockers in Calcaterra, Gainwell and Stoll and picked up the needed yardage.
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While the Eagles had 0% success running the traditional run of the game in their win over the Jaguars, it has still been a weapon for most of the season. According to Sports Info Solutions, Hurts has completed 22 quarterback sneaks this season, picking up a first down or scoring on 18 of those attempts for an 82% success rate. He is up to six Tush Push touchdowns.
So despite their struggles to pull it off last week, the Eagles aren’t pushing it out of the playbook anytime soon.
“I still have so much confidence in the guys in that game and everything in general,” Jurgens said. “We’ll be fine. At the end of the day, we want to win the football game and we did. So we just have to make sure we clean things up throughout the game.”
Tune in to Gameday Central on Sunday as Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith discuss all the key questions surrounding the Eagles matchup with the Dallas Cowboys.
