Despite 2 failed attempts, Nick Sirianni still confident in Tush Push originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles faced a 4th-and-inches late in the third quarter against the Jaguars on Sunday afternoon at the Jaguars’ 25-yard line and Nick Sirianni kept his offense on the field.
Here’s comes the Brotherly Shove, right?
Nah, instead of their most popular and successful plays (call it the Brotherly Shove or the Tush Push), the Eagles ran an under center play action pass that ended with an incompletion and a turnover on downs. Luckily for the Eagles, they still pulled out a 28-23 win.
But what happened with the Brotherly Shove and why didn’t they use it there?
Well, earlier in the game, the Jaguars had already stuffed the Eagles on the play twice on 2-point conversions and it spooked them out of calling it again.
“They did a good job,” Sirianni said on Sunday afternoon. “Any time you get stuffed on it you think twice and try to go a different route. You know, they got us. They did a good job of it. We’re going to have to do a better job as coaches helping them succeed.”
On Monday morning, Sirianni and the coaching staff took a longer look at those failed 2-point conversions.
What happened? And will the Eagles hesitate to call their best play again?
“I’m not going to get into the things that Jacksonville did to stop it but they obviously did a very good job and credit to them for stopping a play that’s been very successful,” Sirianni said on Monday afternoon.
“You can’t overreact, again, to a play that’s had as much success as that’s had the last three years. We have a ton of confidence in it. Again, you don’t have confidence in a play unless you have confidence in the players. That’s what it comes down to.”
The Eagles were 0-for-2 on the Brotherly Shove on Sunday (both on 2-point conversions) but it has still been a good play for them this year. They have converted on 19 of 25 attempts in 2024:
Week 1: 2/4
Week 2: 3/3
Week 3: 0/0
Week 4: 4/4
Week 6: 4/4
Week 7: 2/3
Week 8: 4/5
Week 9: 0/2
That’s a relatively high success rate of 76% but definitely lower than recent years. Here’s a look at the success of the play in 2022 and 2023, via ESPN:
2023: 35/42 (83%)
2022: 25/27 (93%
It’s worth noting that the 2-for-4 performance in Week 1 was likely (at least partially) because of the field conditions in São Paulo. And before Sunday’s game, the Eagles were converting at roughly the same rate as they were last season.
But it’s a scary thought to imagine the Eagles’ offense without the Brotherly Shove. It has been an easy button for three seasons.
So on Monday, the coaching staff made sure to spend some time diagnosing whatever problems there were on Sunday. Because they’re going to need it again.
“Did we talk about things as an offensive staff on things that we could do better? Wrinkles that we could have? Different things that we could do off of it?” Sirianni said. “Of course we did. That’s our job as coaches. But you look at that and you think that anytime you fail at something, it’s an awesome opportunity for you to rise and that’s what I feel like we did today as a staff and then with the players. We’ll move on and get better from it.”
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