The Philadelphia Eagles travel to Arlington in Week 12 trying to stretch their division lead. After a blowout win and dominant performance from newcomers, the Dallas Cowboys are feeling good about going up against the Eagles' signature play.
Back in Week 1, the Philadelphia Eagles were 2/2 against the Dallas Cowboys in executing their signature play: the 'Tush Push'. The conversions both came in the fourth quarter of Philadelphia's 24-20 win to open the season.
Since then, the modernized QB sneak - which barely avoided getting banned this offseason by falling two votes short - has continued to be a staple in head coach Nick Sirriani and quarterback Jalen Hurts' repertoire.
Now as the Eagles prepare for their second game of the season against their division rivals in Week 12, they must prepare for a new-look defense that has Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer more confident than ever that they can stop the infamous play.
"We’ve got some reinforcements in there and guys that have seen it, and it’s a game of leverage. It really is,” Schottenheimer said, referencing new defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, along with Osa Odighizuwa and Kenny Clark.
Williams showed in Dallas' 33-16 win over the Las Vegas Raiders that he is one of the game's best interior forces - against the pass or run. The 300-pounder made his Cowboys debut after his trade from the New York Jets at the deadline and brought an immediate impact, posting 1.5 sacks, seven pressure and five QB hits as the leader of a D-line that also allowed just 27 total rushing yards to the Raiders.
Williams now turns his attention to the Eagles as he powers a Dallas front hungry to stop the defending Super Bowl champs.
“It’s a cool play that the Eagles do, on second-and-short or third-and-short or fourth-and-short,” Williams said about the Tush Push. “I never been against it. We have a great plan. I know we got a good game plan to be able to stop it and things like that.”
This season, the Tush Push has remained under scrutiny as NFL referees struggle to judge its legality in real time, especially when replays of oblivious false starts by both Eagles' guards are not called on multiple occasions. This was the case most recently in the Eagles' last primetime game, a Week 10 "Monday Night Football" showing against the Green Bay Packers.
"It’s very difficult to officiate in real time,” NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent has admitted this season.
“What we’re seeing is that line judge, sometimes on a replay, we see the guard jump or move. It’s hard when the guard was in the neutral zone or someone else was in the neutral zone. Really hard for the line judge to identify that based on where he’s at looking down the line of scrimmage.”
“I do think that the league is trying to make sure that it’s a legal play, in terms of everybody getting off on the snap and stuff like that," Schottenheimer added this week. "But they’re still really good at it. We’ll still see it, but we’ve definitely got some reinforcements in there that give you a chance to win the leverage game."
In addition to Williams, Odighizuwa and Clark, the Cowboys have also activated free-agent signing Perrion Winfrey, who said he will be "bringing violence" in his regular-season debut.
Before Philadelphia's Week 11 game against the Detroit Lions, Hurts and the offense had deployed the Tush Push 18 times. The play resulted in a conversion 14 times, three of which were touchdowns from the one-yard line.
However, if there ever was a game to show that the play is beatable, it was last week in Philadelphia's 16-9 win over the Detroit Lions.
The Lions stopped the Tush Push five times.
Detroit, one of the few teams that voted to keep the play legal, mixed things up by sending an edge defender out wide to swing around the scrum to wrap up Hurts and drag him backwards. The Lions also sent an attacking linebacker from the second-level to try to stop Hurts' surge of forward progress.
For the Cowboys, Donovan Ezeiruaku on the edge and DeMarvion Overshown or Logan Wilson at linebacker can be capable of filling those roles in this game plan.
It's worth remembering that Philadelphia was on their backup center last week, but regardless of their offensive line formation, Dallas seems to have the most personnel as they've ever had to stop the Tush Push on Sunday.