Over the past year, the Eagles have perfected the quarterback push play in short-yardage situations. A moment from Sunday’s win over the Bills highlights a possible strategy for trying to neutralize it.
It happened when defensive lineman Jordan Phillips left early as Buffalo prepared to stop (or try to stop) an inevitable quarterback sneak, shoving through and over Eagles offensive lineman Cam Jurgens. Eagles center Jason Kelce complained earlier this week that Phillips should have been flagged for unnecessary roughness (he wasn’t) and should be fined (he likely won’t be).
Kelce’s complaint highlights the potential impact of a defense essentially fighting fire with fire, when it comes to the brute-force violence the Eagles deploy by digging in and blasting the entire defense backward, with other offensive players shoving quarterback Jalen Hurts from behind. The Eagles rely on the raw strength and explosion that comes from their approach to the play. It’s something defenses can never properly practice, and it’s something the Eagles essentially sharpen in game situations, each and every week.
The strategy would be a simple one. In pointing this out (as we did on Thursday’s PFT Live when discussing Kelce’s take on the Phillips mauling of Jurgens), we’re not saying a team should do it. We’re saying that a defense desperate to defend real estate could choose to employ this approach.
It would only work in goal-line situations, where an offside penalty would result in the ball moving a little bit closer to the end zone. The entire defense would essentially do what Phillps did to Jurgens. Start a little early, and blow up the offensive formation. The flag gets thrown, the ball moves forward by a few inches, and they all hunker down to do it again.
The objective wouldn’t be to inflict injury. It would be to take what essentially is a close-quarters street fight to the Eagles, giving up a little bit of yardage after the offside penalty is called in exchange for pushing the Philly offensive line backward with the same kind of sudden surge the Eagles employ every single time they do it.
The Eagles know when the play is going to begin. The defense does not. By opting to deliberately start early, the defense would be giving the Eagles a taste of the same medicine they eventually force down the throats of every defense they face. The downside would be that the Eagles get the ball moved a little bit closer to paydirt for the next try.
As the stakes get higher and higher in the latter stages of the regular season and, eventually, the playoffs, defenses will be increasingly desperate to come up with something/anything to rattle the Eagles as they prepare to engage the automatic steamroll to a first down or a touchdown. Having their formation forcibly invaded when they aren’t ready for it is the mirror image of what they do, every time they activate what has been, to date, an unstoppable tactic.
Nothing else works. Jumping over the top of the pile is pointless; the surge of bodies goes right under it. And with the Eagles always having the advantage of knowing the snap count, they’ll always have the split-second edge that comes from knowing when the action will commence.
What would happen if an entire defensive front does what Phillips did on fourth and goal from the one? Who knows? But if the touchdown is inevitable anyway, it takes only one coaching staff to say, “Screw it. We’ll just go first and take the offside penalty.”
If a defense does it once or twice in a given game, blasting into the Eagles’ offensive line just before the ball is snapped, it will give them something else to think about every time they prepare to use the play.
With no other practical solution for stymying a maneuver that has essentially shortened the sticks for the Eagles, the Phillips play — and Kelce’s reaction to it — could be the spark that prompts a defense with no other viable option to give it a try.
Again, we’re not saying anyone should do it. But the Phillips hit on Jurgens, and Kelce’s complaint about it, could become the kernel of an idea for a defense that has nothing to lose, since a touchdown is going to be scored anyway.
It would surely result in more complaints from Kelce and other players. Is it fair, however, for the Eagles to rely constantly on a maneuver that bullies every defense they face and then complain if/when a defense turns the tables? Unless and until the officials call unnecessary roughness on a defense that collectively forces the action early (which would result in an automatic first down), there’s no difference between fourth and goal from, say, the six-inch line or the three-inch line.
The prospect of a defense deliberately exploiting this reality of the rulebook makes me a little queasy. It could result in injuries. It would make an already dangerous play even more dangerous. Still, what else is a defense to do when the outcome of an entire season might hinge on finding a way to stop a play that has morphed into automatic first downs and sure-fire touchdowns?
I hope it doesn’t happen. But if the Phillips hit on Jurgens and Kelce’s reaction to it prompts those on the outside to realize that a defense could just dig in and start pushing before the snap, those inside the game will think of it, too. (They probably already have.) The question is whether a defense at some point between now and the Super Bowl (if the Eagles get that far) when jammed into the phone booth created by the Brotherly Shove will choose to be the ones to shove first.
