The Philadelphia Eagles have caused havoc throughout the NFL with their signature “tush push.”
With the QB sneak-inspired play, where two players line up behind the quarterback and partake in a “brotherly shove” across the yard to gain, teams throughout the league have struggled to stop or implement the play eight weeks into the season.
On Wednesday, 49ers veteran fullback Kyle Juszczyk chimed in on the debate surrounding the controversial action, discussing his point of view of the play on KNBR’s “Murph & Mac Podcast” with Brian Murphy and Paul McCaffrey.
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“Honestly, I’m not too against it,” Juszczyk explained to Murphy and McCaffrey. “It’s within the rules. It’s on the defense to stop them. You saw Fred (Warner) found an effective way to stop the Vikings. He did it on the goal line. That was sweet. Maybe that’s a formula going forward. Maybe someone’s able to do that against Philadelphia. I don’t know, we’ll see. I’m really not against it. I don’t think the fact that it’s effective should be the reason that they outlaw it. I’m good with it.”
Juszczyk raises a good point as Warner shut the play down when Minnesota tried it against San Francisco in Week 7.
But Juszczyk also thinks the play is overly advantageous for offenses, as he believes teams should use it until given a reason to do otherwise.
San Francisco 49ers
“I think every team in the league has their own version,” Juszczyk shared with Murphy and McCaffrey. “It’s just a matter of time when they need to get to it. At the end of the day, we all have short-yard packages and there’s a limited amount of plays. The nice part about that play is that you can continue to run it over and over. You really don’t need to develop any wrinkles off of it.”
While the “tush push” is a cheat code offensively, the play can be dangerous. Players are involved in an extremely physical, rugby-style scrum, which could lead to injury.
In fact, it’s rumored that Brock Purdy landed in the NFL’s concussion protocol because of a head-to-head hit suffered on a rough rendition of the trending play.
As the “tush push” seems to be here to stay in the NFL, many players have mixed feelings about it.
Juszczyk is not one of those guys.