WE’RE back on our Brotherly Shove again! In the 2024 Wild Card game, we defeated the Packers by putting up 22 points to their 10. In the 2025 offseason, we defeated their proposal to ban the Shove, by getting only 10 votes to their 22. They had more points but still lost! We Bugs Bunny’d them!
That level of fail has to hurt. There is no possible way, that it doesn’t hurt in the deepest, darkest, most ouchiest places.
Green Bay is all about holding onto the past. Frozen tundra, Vince Lombardi, the Packer Sweep, and all that crap. So you KNOW that Packer fans will hold onto both losses. Why not rub some salt in, and squeeze some lemon juice on those wounds? I swear, when we visit Lambeau in November, the first play we run, should be the Shove. Just make a point.
I woke up Wednesday, fully expecting the NFL to ban the play. I’d already made peace with it, and discussed why and how I did, in my last article. Back in April when the owners voted on it, the vote was tied 16 to 16. Instead of accepting that vote, the NFL moved the goal post on the issue, so that Green Bay could re-word the proposal, to pick up 8 more votes in May.
Well, their new rule proposal only picked up an additional 6 votes. Likely because the new language in the proposal, would have banned any pushing, of any runner. For ALL teams. For owners trying to turn the NFL into flag football, that change is just an evolutionary step. For owners who want football to stay football, that change is a seventy degree slope, coated in oil.
I’ll be interested in seeing how often Green Bay and Buffalo still runs the Tush Push, since they are “so opposed” to it. In fact, any team running the play besides the Ravens, Browns, Lions, Jaguars, Dolphins, Patriots, Saints, Jets, or Titans, is full of shit if they attempt it even once.
I didn’t name the Eagles in that group, because the Eagles don’t run the Tush Push. We run the Brotherly Shove. That is not a semantic, or just a matter of nomenclature. It’s the distance between why we’re so successful at what we do, and other teams are not as successful at what they do. We simply aren’t doing the same thing!
When talking about why we’re so good at the Shove, announcers, as well as opposing players and coaches, frequently cite how QB Jalen Hurts can squat 600 pounds. Meanwhile, often during the play, his feet aren’t even on the ground! They mention the pushing of the butt. Yet Hurts frequently makes the distance without needing that push.
Teams are making incorrect assumptions about the play, and therefore aren’t studying or approaching executing it properly. They’re trying to imitate what they think it is, instead of what it truly is. Which is why they both keep getting it wrong, AND failing to stop it. The biggest secret of the Shove, is us never pointing out what opponents are misunderstanding.
It’ll be interesting to see what new basis they’ll try to ban it on, next year; as well as how often opponents fake a short-term injury, in order to create injury data that heretofore hasn’t existed. I doubt however, that the next charge will be led by Green Bay. Because we keep proving, on or off the field, the slack-jawed Packers are simply no match for us.
Look at how offsides he is. THAT my dear reader, is called FEAR.
BROTHERLY Shove, forever! I’m a huge fan of the play, but I’m an even bigger fan of the fact that, opposing teams can rarely stop us when we run it. So when I first heard that the NFL was seriously taking a vote to ban the play, I was understandably…upset.
Once again it was a professional sports league, targeting Philadelphia for innovating and perfecting something. Like when the NBA outlawed Allen Iverson’s Crossover dribble , then later outlawed his Spin Cross dribble (sometimes called the El Nino).
This push to ban the Shove, felt unfair and I was very pissed over it. Until recently. Now the more I think about it, the more I find myself, sort of looking forward to the Brotherly Shove being banned. This is because I’m a student of the game. I see its history everywhere, and I can’t wait to see the fallout from this.
Consider Air Coryell. One aspect of that offensive system, was to put receivers into motion, to read if a defense was playing Man or Zone. It was hard to stop when that first came out, but teams caught on, and now you see it as part of every offensive system, on nearly every play.
Consider the original West Coast Offense. Joe Montana and the Forty-Niners virtually owned the 1980’s with that system. Then other teams began to copy it and mutate it. Now almost every team either runs a version of the WCO, or their own system is heavily impacted with basic tenets of the WCO.
(sigh)
Buddy Ryan and Bud Carson invented the 46 Defense, which made legends of Eagles and Bears defenders, from the mid 1980’s through early 1990’s, Then teams caught up to it, and no one runs the 46 any more.
The history of the NFL is innovation, domination, transformation, repeat. Innovation, domination, transformation, repeat.
Except here, no one is figuring out the Brotherly Shove. Teams are just dropping to the floor, going fetal, and screaming “No Mas!” They ran to mommy Goodell, hid behind her skirt, and cried for her to stop the big, bad Eagles. And she said “Roger that.”
If the Shove is banned, it will mean that at least a two-thirds majority of the league’s owners, realized we can’t be stopped on the field, so they ambushed us, off of it. Unlike Air Coryell and the WCO, and the 46, our innovation will go down as having never been solved. With a ban, our ownership of all those teams, will be written indelibly into NFL history itself.
So yeah. I’m kinda looking forward to that silver lining.
The Eagles make #11 (Micah Parsons), body-surf three yards. Backwards.
PHILADELPHIA has designed an unstoppable version of the QB Sneak. Initially, it was referred to as “Snoopy” by the Eagles players, However, since the Eagles didn’t make that known, others around the league, and media detractors of the play, pejoratively called it the “Tush Push”. So a few weeks later some of us fans began circulating the name “Brotherly Shove”, on-line and through word of mouth.
The name made it’s way to Head Coach Nick Sirianni’s ear, at his press conference on September 27th. When Coach heard it, he closed his eyes and nodded his approval.
Lookit that mug! Have you ever seen a more Italian face?! Total classic, right here!
Soon after that, the Eagles began referring to the play, as the Brotherly Shove. Then on October 10th, the organization filed a trademark application for the name.
While some assholes are still using ‘Tush Push’, that name is fading fast. What is not fading fast, is our opponents hatred of it. They see it, and can’t stop it. They try it, and can’t execute it. So now a number of teams have stomped their foot, shit their diapers, and wailed for the play to be banned outright. Awww, poor babies!
They want the NFL to ban it on the grounds that:
1) Someone could get injured running the play – This is based on the giants having two players injured on the same down, while trying to execute the play. It does not take into account, the flagrant stupidity of the giants as an organization. If you asked each man there, to conduct ten separate counts of his own balls, none of them would ever get the same number twice. So banning the Brotherly Shove on that merit, lacks any. Next!
2) Someone could get injured by the play – This is true. That could happen. This is, players also get hurt running regular QB Sneaks; or being tackled legally; or landing from a jump; and let’s not forget all those popped Achilles and ACL tears, which are nearly always the result of no contact plays. So players get hurt playing Football. So quitcherbitchin. Next!
3) Players shouldn’t push the ball carrier from behind – The fuck?! Literally every game you or I have ever seen or played in (involving helmets and pads), has featured a pile being pushed from behind. Seriously, I don’t know how they ban the play based on this, without changing all of Football, and how linemen are coached from Pop Warner, through the Hall of Fame.
4) It’s an ugly play – So is every play run by Washington!
5) It’s more of a Rugby scrum than a football play – STOP!! ! This is some of the most rank bullshit I’ve seen propagated on America, since Little Caesar’s was promoted as food. It’s taking advantage of the fact that most Americans have never seen a game of Rugby, and so don’t know what an actual ‘scrum’ looks like. (I’ve watched it, and even considered joining a local league in my late 30’s.) Here’s an example of a scrum:
THIS…is a Rugby scrum.
Notice the arm and head placements? Now here’s how it usually moves:
Eagles opponents never put up this kind of fight.
The Brotherly Shove looks nothing like those. However, what the Shove has going for it, is that it is clearly a throwback to Football’s Rugby roots. For those who don’t know, Football was invented around 1870, as a refined version of Rugby. The forward pass wasn’t introduced until 1906. So Football looked a lot like Rugby, or Australian Football for almost 40 years.
I do watch Aussie “footy” when I can get it. The West Coast Eagles for mostly obvious reasons.
In addition to the name, Philly’s city colors are blue and gold.
I hate Collingswood because they dress like a team of referees. Incidentally, that sport is also born of Rugby, but it has more Soccer mixed in it. You might actually like it if you stumble across it.
The Brotherly Shove is literally Football returned to it’s beginnings. It’s gone caveman. It’s what happens when Football gets in touch with it’s roots. Gets barefoot, butt naked, and runs in the bush. The Brotherly Shove is primal. It’s hunter gatherer. It’s a fistfight in a phone booth. It’s an 11 man, 3,000 pound masculinity check, that nearly every opponent fails, every time.
And that’s the real reason why they want it banned.
Special Teams Ace: Hands Devonta Smith recovers Commanders onside kick attempt
****
I hear you asking, “What about all the stuff that stats don’t reveal?” Well, that’s the reason for these Four Things articles. It’s to point out what we need to address BEFORE the game. Then AFTER the game, there’s a no-bullshit assessment of whether or not the Eagles did any of what they needed to do, to ensure the win.
So how much of what I mentioned in Four Things: COMMANDERS did the Eagles actually get around to doing? Well let’s see:
1) Run the Ball:D’Andre Swift had just one carry in the first half. One. As a result, we had little offensive rhythm or cohesiveness. We got back on our horse in the second half, and Swift finished with around fifteen carries (16), as I said he should. Hurts had 4 carries, but only two were actual carries. The other two were kneel downs.
RB D’Andre Swift runs for a 7 yard score from the Brotherly Shove formation.
We attempted the Brotherly Shove just once with Hurts (he fumbled it away). The other time we lined it up, we pitched a Brotherly Sweep™ to Swift for a 7 yard touchdown run. The assholes wanted us to not run the Brotherly Shove, and we were happy to OH-bliiige them. Congratulation dickheads, you’ve made the Eagles more dangerous. (DONE)
2) Run Swift to Brown:I said that Washington wasn’t going to let A.J. Brown go off for 175 yards and 2 touchdowns again, and I was right! They instead let him catch all 8 of his targets for 130 yards and 2 more TD’s, while basically giving an entire coaching staff PTSD, whenever they see anything shaped like an 11. Poor Jack Del Rio, staring at his fork and just screaming and screaming and screaming.
I said they would weaken their secondary trying to keep a man in the box, and that’s precisely how WR Devonta Smith (7 – 7 – 99 – 14.1 – 1) was able to get loose for a 38 yard touchdown pass. He was so wide open on it, that he had to stop and catch it like a punt. Let’s not forget to mention WR Julio Jones(2 – 1 – 8 – 8.0 – 1) catching his first touchdown as an Eagle. Still, we ran more up the middle than to Brown’s side. (NOT DONE)
FS Reed Blankenship secures this interception.
3) Get At Least One Turnover: On a day when we allowed a mutt QB to complete 75% of his passes, FS Reed Blankenship managed to snag an interception. Our coverage again allowed free releases, while giving up five yard cushions. Really hard to generate turnovers when the ball never gets near a defender. That said, we got one in this game, and one is what was asked. (DONE)
4) Lock Up Their Run: I won’t keep you in suspense. We did this one. Their run game (13 – 73 – 5.6 – 0 – 0) looks decent until you take away their 29 yard run, and are left with (12 – 44 – 3.6 – 0 – 0) a more accurate picture of what they were relying on, down in and down out, during the game
We limited their run (12 hand-offs), and made them put the game on their QB (52 pass attempts). He threw four touchdowns, but he also threw the interception that helped put the Eagles up for good. (DONE)
++++
This week’s Four Things score is3 of 4. Normally you’d expect a larger margin of victory with 3 of 4 posting, but the Eagles waited to run the ball, and waited to play smart enough to get a turnover. This gave Washington life they should never have had.
Next week we return home to the Linc, to face the 5 – 2 Dallas Cowboys; as we wrap up the second quarter of our season, and go into our Week 10 Bye.
****
WR A.J. Brown once again hits Washington with the all-night electric freak show, on one of his two touchdown grabs.
Game Hero: WR A.J. Brown – The guy was flat-out uncoverable, and he kept us in the game even when the Offense was unbalanced and had no rhythm.
Game goat: RG Sua Opeta – The drop-off between he and starter Cam Jurgens(Injured Reserve), is huge. That’s not to take a swipe at Opeta, it just is what it is. There is a noticeable lack of re-active quickness to his game, as defenders seem to get into his frame too fast, too often. It’s allowing pressure in the middle of Jalen Hurts’ protection, and is becoming more and more problematic for the run, by the week.
On The Whole:
Offensively, turnovers and injuries are killing us, right now. The injury at RG leads to a back-up who struggles create reliable run holes, and to protect a QB who is himself nursing an undisclosed injury (I’m sure Vegas bookies LOVE that).
Not to mention that Hurts mobility usually acts as a threat, which enhances our RB run game. Hurts inability to run now, is negatively impacting the RB’s and so the Eagles run game as a whole. It would be different if we had a big back who could impose his will and force the issue, but…
OLB Haason Reddick getting the Eagles only sack of the game, on Washington’s last down of the game. Look at Haason CHOP! that ball out.
Defensively, the unwillingness to rush five, or use more press man coverage, is resulting in opposing QB’s looking like dads playing catch with their kids. This game was no different. We got one sack at the very end of the game, when Haason Reddick murdered their last gasp of hope. A QB who’d been sacked 40 times in 6 games (6.6 sacks per game), and we reached him just once.
Lesser pressure and five yard cushions with free releases, will let even a novice QB carve up a defense. Which is why we allowed that team to put 30+ points on us, twice. The only other team they put 30 on, was Denver. The way this Defense is being called, is a formula for failure, vs really good teams.
Many will say that I should be celebrating the win. However, at this point, with the gauntlet that faces us starting Sunday afternoon, I’m more concerned with cleaning up the sloppiness. These turnovers, these easy completions, this repeated stalling out in the red zone, the lack of explosiveness in the run game…
Yay for the win, but if we’re going to go anywhere in the post-season, we can’t expect that playing like scrubs will get us where we’re trying to go.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 