Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles have done things that Josh Allen and Sean McDermott have yet to achieve with the Buffalo Bills. The Eagles won the Super Bowl last season, dethroning Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs on the way.
And while their success may be an inspiration to many, it was also met with criticism. In particular, the Tush Push play that took Hurts and the Eagles to new heights has faced a lot of backlash from around the league.
McDermott was among its detractors, with the Bills even voting in favor of banning said play at the last NFL annual meetings. Allen, however, doesn’t seem to share the same opinion.
Allen supports the Tush Push despite Bills’ previous opposition
In a recent Q&A with Liam McKeone of SI.com, the 2024 NFL MVP raised many eyebrows by showing his support for the play popularized by Hurts in Philadelphia. Instead of siding with his coach and team’s stance, Allen made it clear that he approves the existence of the Tush Push.
Jalen Hurts #1 of the Philadelphia Eagles scores a touchdown with the Tush Push play against the New York Giants during their game at MetLife Stadium on October 20, 2024 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
“I’m a big believer in if you can’t stop it, keep running it, right?,” Allen said. ‘I think that there’s a few teams that do it better than others, but then you look at a few teams that try to do it, and it doesn’t have the same success. Because, one, they maybe don’t practice it enough or, two, they don’t have the guys to do it.
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“And just because a couple teams do it better than others, I don’t feel like it should be banned. I understand the merit of what it brings and so I don’t really sway one way or the other. I try to play the game based on the interpretation of the rules. And if that was the rule that was passed, you know, we’ll find a different way. But I feel like if you can use it to your benefit, use it to your benefit. If you don’t like it, my advice is to stop it, you know?”
McDermott’s concern on the Tush Push
Just like Hurts, Allen knows that he’s a quarterback who can benefit from a good execution of the Tush Push. His thoughts may not align with those of McDermott, though, who expressed concerns on the player safety in this kind of play.
“My biggest concern is the health and safety of the players, first and foremost,” McDermott said in April, via Bills Wire. “It’s added force and then the posture of the players being asked to execute that type of play. That’s where my concern comes in.
“That’s not a healthy posture, to me. Then, when you add force to that posture, that’s concerning for me as to the health and safety of the players… To me, (the Green Bay proposal) takes away the force. Traditional quarterback sneaks have been around for a long time. That’s the context of it that’s important. Then the pushing adds the force piece, and it exponentially raises my concern.”
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Eventually, the Bills found out that the majority of the NFL believes the Tush Push has to be accepted. Allen’s comments came after finding out about this, and it makes sense. Now that it continues to be legal, it’s pointless to complain about it. Instead, Buffalo and other teams should find ways to stop Hurts’ Eagles from continue succeeding with it, and why not, try and use it in their favor.
