Sirianni, Eagles Must Avoid Overconfidence After Costly Tush Push Fumble
The “Tush Push” has become one of the biggest topics of conversation surrounding the Philadelphia Eagles, but their high-powered offense had a costly fumble at the goal line on their signature play.
Jalen Hurts, Jason Kelce, and company looked like they had the Tush Push (aka the “Brotherly Shove”) perfected. However, any recap of the Week 8 victory must acknowledge a lack of execution and the type of costly mistake that could mean a loss against a stronger opponent than the Washington Commanders.
Nick Sirianni Shows Extreme Confidence
The Eagles head coach spoke confidently after a Week 7 win against the Miami Dolphins.
“Every first down, it’s first-and-nine knowing that if you get to fourth-and-one, shoot (there’s) a lot of faith in that play.” –Nick Sirianni
His offense had just run a short-yardage clinic with three critical first-down conversions on quarterback sneak plays.
Did he speak out of term? Did the overconfidence come back to bite him? After all, virtually nothing in the NFL is automatic to the extent of his “first-and-nine” comment.
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Jason Kelce Breakdown
The five-time All-Pro center has become one of the most recognized faces in the NFL. He joined NFL Total Access after Week 7 to break down the Tush Push.
“It’s not uncommon – and, again, I don’t want to jinx this – It’s not uncommon to fumble the ball on a quarterback sneak.” –Jason Kelce
Kelce was speaking more about the exchange between the center and the quarterback. Hurts actually fumbled on Sunday after (ironically) bumping the rear end of left guard Landon Dickerson.
The Tush Push fumble was the type of miscue that has kept fans and media from speaking bullishly about the 7-1 Eagles. It also came on a day when Kenny Gainwell dropped another costly fumble at the goal line.
Maintaining Confidence in the Tush Push
Kelce spoke with the deserved conviction about a play the Eagles can execute much better than any other NFL team.
“There’s a lot of details and minute things that, quite frankly, I think we have a leg up on because we just run the play so much…It’s everybody across the board. How we’re hitting the blocks, where we’re started, where we’re putting the point at, who’s working with who.” -Kelce
Sirianni spoke after the win in Washington with the proper level of confidence in his team to correct the miscue.
“Every mistake we make, we correct. Every time we do something right, we praise. That’s accountability…We’ll look at the fundamental cause of why the fumble happened. We’ll correct it. We’ll try to do our job to put them in position to reenact that fumble.” -Sirianni
The Eagles weren’t going to convert every single short-yardage situation with the same sneak play after Sirianni’s “first-and-nine” comment.
They bounced back from the mistake with a dynamite offensive performance for the remainder of the win in Washington. They also ran somewhat of a fake Tush Push on a toss play to D’Andre Swift for a touchdown that iced the game with under two minutes left.
Sirianni won’t lose faith when he draws up a game plan against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 9. Kelce won’t forget 13 seasons of work because of one fumble.
The Eagles still need to handle success with the right level of confidence, taking nothing for granted in a league that can humble its best teams instantly.