“When you come to me in a time of need, Dan, is there any type of bat signal involved that I’m not aware of? Or is it just Fritzy? Is it Fritzy texting me—that’s the bat signal?” Mike Florio quipped on The Dan Patrick Show, cutting through the NFL’s latest drama like a linebacker blitzing a rookie QB. The league’s owners just tabled a vote to ban the Philadelphia Eagles’ infamous “tush push” — a play so unstoppable that it’s got Jalen Hurts’ squad looking like Tom Brady’s New England Patriots circa 2007. And you know what that means: Cue the conspiracy theories, the salt, and the collective side-eye from Philly fans.
Let’s break it down like a rookie’s playbook. The Eagles’ “Brotherly Shove” isn’t just a play. It’s a cheat code. In 2023, they converted 37 of 41 attempts (a 90% success rate) using this rugby-meets-Madden maneuver. With his 6.7 rushing TDs per season, Hurts becomes a human battering ram while his O-line and a “tush” posse shove him forward. It’s like watching a bulldozer powered by cheesesteak fumes.
The ghost of Spygate looms after Jalen Hurts’ Eagles’ tush push controversy
But here’s the kicker: The NFL’s Competition Committee just punted on banning it. Why? Because everyone else can’t replicate it. “Now, could the Eagles have demanded a vote yesterday with the tush push? inquired Dan. “Well, no, that’s not how it works,” Florio explained. “When the wind is blowing against a proposal passing, it tends to get tabled. If you put it up for a vote, you’re going to get numbers that fall short of the requisite 24 to change the rules.”
Sound familiar, Patriots fans?
Rewind to 2007. Brady’s Patriots were the NFL’s Death Star — 16-0 regular season, 50 TDs from Brady, and a scandal (Spygate) that had rivals howling, “They cheat!” Fast-forward to 2024, and the Eagles’ “tush push” is the new bogeyman.
“I feel like—it reminds me a lot of what happened when the Patriots were successful. ‘The Patriots always cheat.’ That’s what all the other teams would say,” Florio pointed out. “Because when the owners are asking the coaches and GMs that they’ve hired and paid a lot of money to, ‘Why can’t you beat the Patriots?’ The easy thing to say is, ‘They cheat.’”
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady screams out after arriving on the field without a glove on his injured right hand before playing the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Championship game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on January 21, 2018. PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxHUNxONLY BOS20180121502 MATTHEWxHEALEY
Now, it’s the Eagles getting the same treatment. “So now we’ve found something the Eagles do that helps explain their dominance, and we’re saying, ‘It’s not football. It doesn’t look like football. It’s not safe,’” Florio continued. “Well, where’s the injury data? We don’t have any. But we might have some at some point. So, let’s get rid of it now because it might not be safe at some point in the future.”
The irony? Philly’s play isn’t even new. Teams have been pushing QBs since 2005, when the NFL quietly greenlit it. But Jalen Hurts’ Eagles? They weaponized it.
“The Eagles realized, 16 years after they allowed this, we can weaponize this. That’s the issue,” Florio emphasized. “Are we going to reset the clock to when you couldn’t pull or push the player with the ball? And if they want to get rid of this, Dan, that’s the easiest and best way to do it. Reset the clock to 2004 and say, no more pushing. And then the Eagles will just run a quarterback sneak, and they’ll still kick everybody’s ass.”
Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers’ proposal to ban the play flopped like a Hail Mary into a safety’s arms. Why? As Florio noted, “The proposal itself from the Packers was very flawed. And I don’t know whether they introduced a bad proposal just to get the conversation started, but the idea of banning the immediate pushing of the quarterback after he gets the snap—that opens a can of worms for officiating and consistency in replay review and tinfoil hat conspiracies.”
Translation: Half the league’s salty; the other half’s secretly taking notes. It’s like Game of Thrones meets Hard Knocks — everyone wants the Iron Throne, but nobody wants to admit they’re copying the blueprint.
“It’s Not About the Push — It’s About the Panic”
The NFL’s relationship with innovation is like a toxic rom-com: They love the idea of creativity… until someone’s actually good at it. The Eagles’ “tush push” isn’t just a play; it’s something fresh!
“And what I don’t like about it is, I feel like there’s a lot of moving of the goalposts. And I almost feel like our political discourse has crept into football. Where you have people making these transparently obvious self-interested arguments that are bull crap,” Florio vented.
“I almost said the other word, and I remembered you’re FCC regulated, so I corrected myself. But they’re making these arguments all because the Eagles have cracked the code, and everybody else is standing there looking at the safe, and they don’t even know how to begin to spin the dial.”
The Eagles’ dominance is undeniable. Hurts’ 2024 stats—2,903 passing yards, 18 TDs, 65.6 QBR—prove he’s playing chess while others play checkers. But instead of adjusting, rivals want the rules adjusted.
“Let’s just call it what it is. The Eagles are kicking everybody’s b—. And so let’s just take away the best club that they have in the bag,” Florio concluded.
NEW ORLEANS, LA – FEBRUARY 09: Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts 1 scores touchdown on a tush push during Super Bowl LIX between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs on February 9, 2025 at the Superdome in New Orleans, LA. Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire NFL, American Football Herren, USA FEB 09 Super Bowl LIX – Eagles vs Chiefs EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon25020912
History doesn’t repeat — it spiral passes. Brady’s Patriots faced scandals; Hurts’ Eagles face skepticism. Both responses reek of envy. The “tush push” isn’t going anywhere — yet — but the debate’s a reminder: In the NFL, greatness is either celebrated or criminalized. No, in-between.
So here’s to Philly, the league’s latest villains. Keep shoving, keep dominating, and keep ’em mad. After all, as Brady once smirked, “You don’t win 219 games by accident.”
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