OPINION: Stop whining about the ‘Brotherly Shove’, get in the locker room

QB Sneak. Tush Push. Brotherly Shove. “Nice rugby play.”

Whatever you call it, it’s been here long before the Eagles mastered it, and it’ll probably continue to be in the NFL regardless of what team does it next.

All week – really these past two seasons – various Eagles’ opponents and their coaches were asked by the same kind of media about the controversial play. It’s always met with the same word-for-word answer about something like “It’s a good play for rugby, it’s a solid play, it’s effective, it’s something that should be done in those inches situations, so yeah, ban it.” Probably controversial because it’s had over 90% efficacy for the Eagles, but it’s wrong to assume.

Let’s walk through this objectively. You’re a team marching down the field. Your team is clicking and the offense is unstoppable. You hit a wall. First down. Second down. Third down. Fourth and inches. What do you do?

Don’t tell me you, as a quarterback, are dropping back. You’re just not. I don’t care if you have the Great Wall of China protecting you. You’re not dropping back on fourth and inches.

Pass? Maybe.

Run? Even better.

But why are you not giving your players the optimal position to succeed? Why not run a play that’s going to secure that first down conversion? It seemed to work for Tom Brady when he and his team did it here. And here. And here. And here.

If that’s not convincing enough for you, here’s more examples of the silly little tush push intertwined in the NFL’s history.

As a football team, you have 17 regular season games to compete for one of seven playoff spots. That’s 14 out of 32 of the best teams each year dwindling down to two with one winner in the end. You can’t tell me you’re not going to take the opportunity to run “that nice rugby play” if it makes the difference in a win or loss situation.

If you ask me, the NFL has gotten a little soft in the past few years with the silly taunting calls – but that’s another conversation for another day. Throwing in one harmless rugby play shakes things up a little bit and makes the games a little more fun to watch.

So, if the play isn’t getting banned, what’s the best course of action? Get your offensive linemen in the gym unless they, too, squat 600 pounds.