The Tush Push, also known as the Brotherly Shove, is an American football play popularized by the Philadelphia Eagles. It is a variation of the traditional quarterback sneak, in which the quarterback takes the snap and immediately drives forward while the offensive line is also surging forward. In the Eagles' version, additional players line up behind the quarterback and physically push him forward as the offensive line surges ahead. It is typically used in short-yardage situations, most commonly within one to two yards of the goal line or first down marker.
The Eagles first attempted the Tush Push in 2021 with Jalen Hurts as their quarterback. Since 2022, the Eagles have regularly executed the Tush Push with notable efficiency, making it a key part of their offensive strategy and contributing to their appearances in Super Bowl LVII and Super Bowl LIX, the latter of which they won. Other teams in the NFL such as the Buffalo Bills and in college football have tried to replicate the play with varying degrees of success. However, due to increased officiating scrutiny and defensive adjustments, the play was noted to decline in effectiveness by 2025.
The Tush Push has drawn controversy, with fans, players, coaches, team executives and media pundits calling for it to be banned from the NFL. Critics argue that it causes difficulty for referees to officiate, poses safety risks, and gives the offense an unfair advantage while decreasing the sport’s watchability due to its high success rate. It has also been compared to the flying wedge, a similar play banned for over a century due to causing numerous injuries and fatalities. Supporters contend that it is legal, available to all teams, and should not be banned simply due to the Eagles' effectiveness running it. The play is currently banned in high school football.
Background
The Tush Push is a variation of the quarterback sneak, which is a basic play in American football where the quarterback lines up directly behind the center, takes the snap, and immediately dives or pushes forward behind the offensive line, who simultaneously move forward. The play is designed to gain a short distance, usually to convert a 3rd or 4th down and inches, or to score near the goal line. In the case of the Tush Push, a player, usually the quarterback, is pushed from behind by one or two of his own teammates as he and the offensive line simultaneously drive forward after being lined up in tight formation. This pushing motion and the resulting formation has often been compared to several different rugby union forms of gameplay, such as the ruck, scrum, driving maul, and pick-and-go.
Origins The play's origins trace back decades to the innovative coaching of Bill Snyder at Kansas State University. Starting around 2005, Snyder began experimenting with assisted quarterback sneaks, recognizing the potential for maximizing short-yardage efficiency. His approach was characteristically methodical–identifying a strategic advantage and refining it through systematic implementation. From 2015 to 2018, Snyder's offensive coordinator Dana Dimel played a crucial role in implementing and developing the early version of the play. The play and its nickname can also be traced to the Bush push, where University of Southern California quarterback Matt Leinart scored a last-second touchdown against the University of Notre Dame in 2005 thanks to a shove from teammate Reggie Bush; the NFL removed the prohibition on pushing ball-carriers the next year.
In 2018, Minnesota Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr was overheard theorizing an early version of the play, suggesting a large quarterback should be pushed from behind by one or two other large teammates during short-yardage situations. The Indianapolis Colts ran a variation of the play during Week 10 of the 2020 season against the Tennessee Titans, when backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who weighed , was put in the game and ran in for a touchdown at the 1-yard line. Nick Sirianni, their offensive coordinator at the time, would join the Philadelphia Eagles as head coach the next year. He later credited Brissett and Colts head coach Frank Reich for inspiring the play, along with his future Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and their former quarterback Carson Wentz.
Implementation by the Philadelphia Eagles Sirianni introduced the play's concept to the Eagles upon joining the team in 2021. The team ran its first iteration in Week 5 against the Carolina Panthers, when Eagles fullback Jack Stoll pushed quarterback Jalen Hurts from behind to get him over the goal line. The team ran it again in Week 11, in a home game against the New Orleans Saints, this time with tight end Dallas Goedert motioning across the formation before settling in directly behind Hurts. When the ball was snapped, Goedert pushed Hurts to help get the yard needed to successfully convert for a first down.
The Eagles continued to incorporate the play during the 2022 season, trying out different variations in short-yardage situations. Then-Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen later cited their Week 5 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals as a turning point. Initially, it was merely one of the Eagles' many short-yardage plays, but after successfully using it to make five out of six first-down conversions against the Cardinals, the team decided to make it their singular focus in those situations. During the next week's game against the Dallas Cowboys, the team additionally lined up a running back behind Hurts, resulting in the now-familiar formation of two players on each of the quarterback's hips. Following the season's end, Stoutland recruited Scottish rugby coach Richie Gray into the Eagles organization to refine the play's technique.
League-wide usage
The controversial play became widely known as the "Tush Push", as well as the "Brotherly Shove", which is a play on the "City of Brotherly Love" nickname for Philadelphia. The league quickly began to take notice of the play's effectiveness, and several teams would attempt to emulate the Tush Push with their own personnel, notably the Buffalo Bills with their 6'5" quarterback Josh Allen. By the end of the 2022 NFL season, the Eagles had run the play 39 times, the Bills 26 and the rest of league a combined 36 times. The Bills would later notably use the play in the 2025 AFC Wild Card Game to push Allen for 10 yards on a 4th-and-1 on the Jacksonville Jaguars' 11 yard line to convert a first down, and then again on the next play to score the game-winning touchdown.
The Seattle Seahawks would also implement the Tush Push during the 2025 season using their 6'6" tight end AJ Barner to snap the ball; Seahawks fans would call their variation of the play the "Barnyard".
Design and execution
Part of the Eagles' success in running the Tush Push has been attributed to the team's roster and personnel. When the team ran the play during the 2024 season, quarterback Jalen Hurts, a former powerlifter who could squat , was designed to run behind the combined of left tackle Jordan Mailata and left guard Landon Dickerson, along with center Cam Jurgens, who weighed . Pushing Hurts from behind that year was running back Saquon Barkley, who could lift , and tight end Dallas Goedert, who Barkley commended for his strength. Hurts' unique lower-body strength and instincts for finding openings in the line of scrimmage have been cited as some of the key components for making the play work, and why other teams have failed to replicate it. Another important aspect noted for the play's success is the ability of the interior offensive linemen to create significant push and get lower than the defensive linemen. Former Eagles center Jason Kelce, who preceded Jurgens and participated in the Tush Push during its inception, was noted to have this skillset.
Scientifically breaking down the Tush Push, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson primarily credited the size and strength of the Eagles' offensive line for the play's success. The 2024 Eagles featured one of the largest offensive lines in the league, including right tackle Lane Johnson, standing at , and weighing ; left tackle Mailata, who measures at and ; and left guard Dickerson, who is and . Tyson further detailed that when running the play, the offensive line would "[use] the Earth as a launching point for their movement" to propel themselves forward, and that the offense snapping the ball first also gives the advantage of a "quarter-second head start in momentum transfer" over the defense. With the offensive line driving low, this clears the path for Hurts to charge forward. Tyson also mentioned that defenders who try to leap over the offensive line to halt momentum are at a disadvantage, as they are airborne and unable to use the ground to add to their momentum.
Play variations After successfully incorporating the play into their offensive playbook, the Eagles began implementing new variations to further confuse the defense. During the 2024 NFC Championship Game the Eagles incorporated a hard count into the play, resulting in the opposing Washington Commanders drawing three consecutive encroachment penalties. Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu received a disqualification warning after getting called for the first two penalties during this sequence, and after the Commanders were penalized for the third time, the referee warned that a touchdown would be automatically awarded to the Eagles if it happened again.
In a 2025 Week 4 match against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Eagles ran two variations when lining up in the Tush Push formation. The first occurred on first-and-goal when Hurts threw the ball underhand to Goedert, who followed a set of blockers into the end zone, and the second occurred during a third-and-1 near their opponent's goal line, when Hurts broke the formation to hand the ball off to Barkley, who ran a jet sweep for an easy uncontested touchdown. The Pittsburgh Steelers, who had implemented the Tush Push into their own offensive game plan using fullback/tight end Connor Heyward to snap and run the ball, would run a similar variation of the play later that season against the Chicago Bears when Hayward handed the ball to his running back for a 55-yard gain rather than attempting to convert the first down himself.
Success rate
The Tush Push has been noted as a particularly effective play, with several pundits calling it "unstoppable" and "automatic". Having the play in his team's playbook caused Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni to liken every fresh set of downs to a "first-and-9," rather than the customary first-and-10, as he and the team felt confident in using the Tush Push to successfully convert a fourth-and-1 situation. During the 2022 season, the Philadelphia Eagles converted 29-of-32 attempts for a first down–a success rate of over 90%. Between 2022 and 2024, 28 of the 32 teams in the NFL attempted a variation of the play, while other college football teams have also adapted some form of the Tush Push. Throughout that same period, the Eagles and the Buffalo Bills executed the play 163 times. Both teams either scored a touchdown or achieved a first down 87% of the time, while the rest of the NFL has only been successful on 71% of attempts. A total of 52 NFL touchdowns were scored using the Tush Push during those three seasons, with the Eagles scoring 27 of them. Additionally, the Eagles reached Super Bowl LVII and Super Bowl LIX in the same timeframe and scored the first touchdown of both games using the Tush Push, ultimately losing the first Super Bowl but winning the second.