The Super Bowl rematch turned into bully ball highlighted by the NFL鈥檚 ugliest play.
Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles pushed 鈥 literally 鈥 their way past Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, on Sunday.
Hurts scored another touchdown on a tush push and the Eagles used the play seven times to help hand the Chiefs their first three-game losing streak with Mahomes and send them to their first since 2014.
The NFL tried to ban to the tush push following a proposal from the Green Bay Packers in the offseason but fell two votes short of eliminating it.
Those who oppose the play must鈥檝e cringed watching the Eagles use it repeatedly in front of a national television audience.
There鈥檚 no doubt many of the decision-makers noticed.
Tom Brady pointed out two of Philadelphia鈥檚 offensive linemen moved early when Hurts was pushed into the end zone for a 20-10 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Replays showed the Eagles clearly got away with a false start.
After Hurts appeared to lose the ball but was ruled down to gain a first down on the play in the final two minutes, Fox rules analyst Dean Blandino said: 鈥淚 am done with the tush push, guys. It鈥檚 a hard play to officiate.鈥
While there was plenty of scoring and exciting action around the league in Week 2 - the Cowboys beat the Giants in overtime in a thrilling, back-and-forth matchup - the tush push became a main topic of conversation during the NFL鈥檚 game of the week.
Sure, there was plenty of talk about Kansas City鈥檚 early season struggles, Andy Reid鈥檚 out-of-synch offense and Travis Kelce not being on the same page with Mahomes. But the game wasn鈥檛 pretty and the tush push magnified the ugliness.
Critics argued it鈥檚 a dangerous play in the offseason but there wasn鈥檛 enough injury data to ban it for safety concerns. Most of the disdain was directed at the aesthetics of the play.
鈥淚s it part of what football has been traditionally, or is it more of a rugby play?鈥 NFL Competition Committee chairman Rich McKay said about the discussion.
Those who hate the appearance of the tush push saw it on full display at Arrowhead Stadium.
They鈥檒l have to see it for at least the remainder of the season because it鈥檚 not going anywhere. The Eagles (2-0) have mastered it in short-yardage situations and they鈥檒l keep using it until owners vote to get rid of it, if they ever do so.
Blandino鈥檚 frustration with the play was echoed by viewers and NFL fans except for anyone who roots for Philly. The new argument against it could center on the difficulty officiating it properly.
鈥淲e work our (tails) off on it,鈥 coach Nick Sirianni said. 鈥淔irst of all, it鈥檚 all about the guys, right? It鈥檚 all about the guys up front, the tight ends, Jalen, the timing of everything. Obviously, won鈥檛 get into all the things that we do to prepare for it, but it鈥檚 not an easy play to practice, but our guys do a great job of simulating it as much as we possibly can.
鈥淒uring practice, during walkthroughs, different things like that, creativity by our coaches to find ways to do that. As you can see, teams are going to do everything they can possibly do to stop it. Some of the things, I won鈥檛 get into that, either. I won鈥檛 give any other teams a clue to what they were doing. We鈥檙e prepared for all those things, and the guys are prepared for all those things. I think it always comes down to those guys up front and Jalen had a lot of success with that play. We鈥檒l continue to use it to our advantage.鈥
If it becomes an unfair advantage because officials can’t catch false starts, the NFL will have to address the problem.
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