• 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 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.
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 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.
