We’re on to Week 6, and it’s all about the tush push …
• It sure feels to me like we’re past the point where the Brotherly Shove is a football play.
Just watching, it sure appears to have become a point of pride for the Eagles, and, with each time it’s called, a chance to tell everyone else where they can take their talk-show segments and social media arguments over it.
The facts here—the Eagles ran six of these plays on Sunday in Los Angeles, and three of those six were on the game’s final drive, with Philly draining the clock on a hard-fought 23–14 win over a very game Rams team. Those six “runs” (maybe better to call them lunges or leg presses) by Jalen Hurts added up to nine yards, four first downs and a message to the rest of the league that there’s no plan to stop running these rugby-like surges right at defenses.
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All six were just a little different.
The first one came on a third-and-1, with 4:55 left in the second quarter. Center Jason Kelce got great movement on the Rams off the snap, and Hurts leaned over his right, toward guard Sua Opeta, and seemed to already have the ball past the sticks, then drove his legs through for the first down. Quez Watkins and D’Andre Swift, lined up behind him, barely had to put a finger on Hurts for him to move the sticks.
The second came with two seconds left in the first half on first-and-goal from the 1—a huge call by Nick Sirianni with the Eagles down 14–10, and a field goal there for the taking. The gamble, of course, paid off. With Dallas Goedert and Kenneth Gainwell behind him, Hurts went right up Kelce’s back. Goedert and Gainwell, plus A.J. Brown (who’d lined up over right tackle Lane Johnson before the snap) shoved him over the goal line, and that made it 17–14.
The third try was with 3:40 left in the first quarter, on a third-and-1, with Swift and DeVonta Smith behind Hurts. This was another that Hurts took right up Kelce’s backside, driving his legs through, without Swift or Smith having to break much of a sweat for the quarterback to pick up two yards and keep what would be a 17-play, 83-yard drive moving.
The fourth was with 2:46 left in the game, the Eagles in third-and-1, and Goedert and Gainwell, with Brown offset behind the right tackle. On this one, Goedert looked like he helped push left guard Landon Dickerson (and the pile), and Gainwell almost picked up one of Hurts’s legs to help move him over Kelce and Opeta.
The fifth was later on that same drive, on third-and-3 with 1:50 left, with Gainwell and Goedert behind Hurts. Goedert again pushed behind Dickerson to move the pile, Hurts went right up Kelce’s back and Gainwell pushed Hurts to pick up a yard. And the sixth and final Brotherly Shove came on the next play, fourth-and-2. On that one, Hurts immediately went left, over Dickerson, and Goedert pushed him, but the Rams stood him up maybe a foot short.
So, yes, I think the Eagles were out to prove a point. But they also, to me, have proved a couple of other things over the past few weeks.
First of all, this is no cheat code, and we know that now because so many other teams have worked to steal the concept—and to no avail. And Philly still has it with the play after all their opponents got a full year to work on ways to stop it. In the offseason, I was very much for getting rid of the play. But now that I’ve seen that other teams can’t run it to the same effect, I think I’m flipping. I generally don’t like rule changes that happen simply because one team is really, really good at something.
Second, since we have established there are very specific skills the Eagles have developed in executing the play (linemen getting low, skill guys gaining leverage, the quarterback driving his legs), it’s worth crediting the coaching staff in making this work with multiple guys. Look above and you’ll find five skill guys involved in getting Hurts over the line to gain. And you’ll see a guard, Opeta, at the point of attack who was making his first start in two years. All of which is a sign of great teaching and player development.
And, yeah, a point proved.
• The Eagles will see a Jets defense that’s flying high this week, and Robert Saleh pointed out something to me about that group Sunday night that I wanted to look into—how it is closing out games. And sure enough, the numbers bear it out. The Jets have allowed 142, 142 and 125 yards in second halves against the Patriots, Chiefs and Broncos, respectively, and just one second-half touchdown (and only 17 second-half points) over that time.
“We’re underappreciated right now in the sense that it’s playing really, really, really good football and we’re going to continue to get better as a defense,” Saleh told me Sunday. “It kind of feels like last year where we started a little bit slow, but eventually, I feel like we get better as games go on. We get better as the season goes on. And I felt like today was a great example.
“Russell [Wilson] was doing a great job scrambling around, like I said, utilizing the screen game. But in the second half, the defense, those guys clamped down and the adjustments that were needed to get done got done. With the exception of one drive, I thought we played lights out in the second half.”
Now only if their offensive line questions, with Ali Vera-Tucker out for the season, were answered, we’d really be talking.
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• The law of averages has, for sure, caught up with the Vikings. After going 11–0 in one-score games last year, all five of their games this year have been determined by such margins, and they’re 1–4. And after staying relatively healthy last year, injuries are taking their toll, too.
Justin Jefferson’s hamstring injury will cost him at least the next four weeks—since he’s going on injured reserve this week.
If there’s a silver lining here, it’s that Minnesota will get rookie Jordan Addison, who’s been dynamite in his first month as a pro, more work, and he’ll get to learn and grow a little without the benefit of Jefferson pulling coverage away from him. That dynamic could also help the Vikings get a clear-eyed valuation on K.J. Osborn, with the fourth-year slot in the final year of his contract.
And while we’re here, I actually think Kevin O’Connell and his staff, and the core of a team that’s going through a bit of a cap-reset year, are doing just fine. The Vikings are in dogfights week to week, and there’s a good base of young talent to build around coming out of this year. If you want to know more about the team’s plan, you can check out what we wrote back in May.
• It’s hard to specifically attribute all injuries to the surfaces they occur on, but it’s worth paying attention to the fact that U.S. Bank Stadium is one of three NFL venues left with slit-film turf (Vegas and Indy are the others), and it was on that surface that both Jefferson and Travis Kelce suffered noncontact injuries from slipping Sunday.
The NFL hasn’t conceded much in the grass-vs.-turf argument, but one thing it did, in its shared data with the NFLPA, is that the slit-film surface has, indeed, proved to be problematic for players. Last year six NFL stadiums, plus Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, had the turf. Four of those—MetLife Stadium in Jersey, Ford Field in Detroit, the Superdome in New Orleans and Hotspur Stadium—were replaced with a different surface in the offseason.
Both Minnesota and Indianapolis have pledged to do the same in 2024. But it’s certainly fair to wonder whether that decision was made with enough urgency. This fight, between players and their bosses, certainly isn’t anywhere close to over, and should be a topic of conversation when the owners convene in New York next week.
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• Just my opinion—I think this is a critical week of practice for Mac Jones in New England. The mistakes you’ve seen Jones make in games where he’s trying to keep plays alive and writes checks that his arm can’t cash, have shown up in practice over time. And Jones’s teammates have pointed it out, and his coaches have worked with him on it, and the fact that the problems surfaced on the game field for a second consecutive week is a problem.
I still think Bill Belichick intends to give Jones the year to prove he can be the quarterback going forward for the franchise. But he also has to be able to continue to sell Jones to his locker room as the best option and hold Jones as accountable as he does others.
We’ll see where all this takes Jones, and the Patriots, with a coaching staff that’s very familiar with both on the opposite sideline this week.
• Count T.J. Watt among the believers that Joey Porter Jr.—who had a huge fourth-quarter pick Sunday against the Ravens—is earning more playing time with the Steelers. Watt went out of his way Sunday to tell me how professional the Pittsburgh legacy has been and how steady his improvement (particularly with his ball skills) has come.
“He definitely knows what it takes,” Watt says. “It’s the legacy aspect of it all that obviously I’ve had the privilege of both of my brothers being in the NFL. It’s also just having a hell of a coach in coach [Mike] Tomlin and having the locker room that we have. We understand that we need our young guys to contribute. We’re going to try to bring them along as quickly as possible."
Porter is, potentially, a pivotal one for the Steelers. And, it looks, a pretty valuable piece from the Chase Claypool trade (Porter was taken with the second-round pick the Bears sent the Steelers for the mercurial receiver).
• While we’re on appreciating teammates, it’s fair to say that Demario Davis appreciates what Derek Carr has brought to the Saints’ locker room.
“Oh, man, phenomenal leader,” Davis told me after the Saints blew out the Patriots, with Carr still working through his shoulder injury. “A front-first person—he’s going to be out front, leading out front, vocal, putting us to work. He’s everything that you want in a leader and as a captain. He helps our offense, and it gives us an opportunity to be special. And [he’s] definitely a quarterback I think everyone is excited to have on this team.”
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• The Cowboys’ intention has been to move forward with Dak Prescott at quarterback. But it’s worth noting that after this year there’s no more guaranteed money in his deal. If they trade Prescott after this season, they’d have $61 million in dead money on their cap, which isn’t ideal. And I’d say right now, the question would be more about whether they extend Prescott, than whether he’ll be on the team next year.
If they don’t deal Prescott, Dallas would be in a situation similar to where the Vikings and Titans are with Kirk Cousins and Ryan Tannehill.
• Shame that De’Von Achane’s hurt, but this was sort of the concern with the Dolphins’ dynamo coming out of Texas A&M. The question was never one of ability. Everyone knew he could fly and be a problem in a lot of ways for defenses. So it was more about his frame and how he’d hold up to the pounding of playing running back in the NFL. And since he’s already hurt, this is a story line worth paying attention to when he gets back.
• Maxx Crosby played out of his mind Monday night, and he’s a good example of why it usually makes sense to pay players you have faith and conviction in as early as possible. The Raiders’ star edge rusher is making $23.5 million per year on a deal that’s now a year and a half old. That top of the market at his position, meanwhile, is now $10 million past that number. Safe to say that GM Dave Ziegler and coach Josh McDaniels are as pleased with how that investment has paid off.
