Can The Bucs Stop The Eagles In Short Yardage?

There are many factors that the Bucs will have to overcome in order to upset the Eagles on Monday Night Football. One of them is how to stop the Eagles in short-yardage situations.

The Eagles have mastered and popularized the quarterback sneak in today’s NFL. They do it in a different way where two running backs line up behind quarterback Jalen Hurts and push him forward after the ball is snapped. It’s become very successful, working 94% of the time to convert first downs or touchdowns, and it seems even tougher than that number.

We’ve seen Hurts reach the end zone on the first touchdown of the Super Bowl and he scored twice on it last week. Odds are that the Bucs will have to handle it at some point in Monday night’s game.

But how do opponents stop it?

Is it even possible to?

Bucs Trying To Find An Answer To Stop Eagles’ “Tush Push”

“If I knew the answer to that, I’d probably be writing a book,” head coach Todd Bowles.  “They’re like 98% on it. You know it’s coming, they know they’re giving it to you and they get great push – they’ve got an athletic quarterback, they’ve got a big line, and I don’t think anybody has stopped it yet. We’ll try like everybody else and see which side of the fence we fall on.”

It has Bucs co-defensive coordinator Larry Foote perplexed as well. The general consensus seems to be to try not and get in those situations in the first palace.

“I think every defensive coach in the league is asking for any suggestions, so if you guys have got some, send me an email,” Foote said. “It’s really one of those things I don’t pay that much mind [to] because I know the offensive guys always get the advantage when they vote in the spring when they take away or add to [the rule book]. We were kind of hoping they might get rid of it, but they didn’t. We’ve got to do a good job, though – don’t let them get down there. It’s going to be a challenge. If I was one of those big, ugly guys I’d be working my get-low technique to try to stop it.”

Foote brings up an interesting point about how most rules cater to the offense overall. Peter King, who has recently changed his tune about Baker Mayfield, absolutely hates the Eagles QB sneak play, otherwise known as the “Tush Push.”

Appearing on Pro Football Talk recently, he called the play an abomination. 

“I am on record last year many times loudly saying it’s an abomination,” King said. “It’s an idiotic rule. And the NFL has made, in my opinion, a terrible mistake in not legislating a rugby play out of the NFL.” He added: “There’s only one logical reason why and that is, in the NFL rules, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I can tell you there are significant, important people in the NFL that blanch every time they see this and they just shake their head.”

Eagles C Jason Kelce Responds To Peter King

Eagles center Jason Kelce, who obviously is closest to the situation, responded to King’s distaste on his “New Heights” podcast with his brother, Travis, who is the Pro Bowl tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.

“First of all, abomination is a strong word,” Kelce said. “So what do we want it outlawed for? Just because it’s a really, really successful play? Or it’s like unfair? What does he have against rugby? The NFL has already taken concepts from basketball and other sports. We do picks on certain routes (technically we don’t call them picks). Rub plays, whenever you wanna call them. Triangle offense. We talk about triangles, and spacing. We already take concepts from other sports. Apparently Peter King just doesn’t like rugby.”

Bucs NT Vita Vea – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

In my opinion, I don’t see any problem with what the Eagles do on their quarterback sneaks. It’s not like they’re the only team allowed to do it. In a league where everyone imitates each other, you would think more teams try this out.

The Bucs hopefully can get a good push up front from Vita Vea, that’s certainly one way to stop it. Even keeled as always, Bowles weighed in on the the topic after he was asked about it.

“I don’t make the rules, I’m not the commissioner or anybody else,” Bowles said. “We’ve got to stop it. The play is legal – we’ve got to stop it as a defense. They do a good job of executing it as an offense.”