Philadelphia Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson is intimately familiar with what few people walking the planet have experienced.
Being in the throes of the tush-push, in all of its violent short-yardage glory.
Johnson, 35, is among the premier right tackles of this generation and a vital piece of the Eagles’ success up front en route to two Super Bowl championships, as well as Philadelphia excelling at the tush-push.
However, after efforts to ban the tush-push failed during NFL meetings earlier this spring, Johnson suggests that it shouldn’t come down to the owners voting, who decide the fate of the play that has become vital to the Eagles’ offense over the past three seasons.
“Yeah, probably the most important voices would be the center,” Johnson said, during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show. “And the two guards, and the defensive tackles who are right there in the middle. Because, they’re usually at the bottom of the pile, every time.
“If there’s a voice to be heard, I would say that it’s theirs. They’re probably having the most impact, but, yeah, it lives on.”
The modified quarterback sneak has become a key chapter of Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni’s playbook, but Johnson doesn’t believe that Philadelphia’s offense would skip much of a beat even if the plan is eventually banned and the offense were forced into a more traditional quarterback sneak.
“I credit the size that we’ve had in the middle for these last few years,” Johnson said. “[Jordan] Mailata is really good at it. I’m OK at it, but it’s really, we got a lot of heavy squatters. Quarterback squats a lot, Saquon [Barkley] squats a lot. A.J. Dillon squats a lot. We’ve got a lot of guys who can squat a lot of weight.”
NFL Executive’s Simple Advice for Stopping Eagles’ Tush-Push
The Eagles aren’t alone in their tush-push prowess.
The Buffalo Bills, according to Pro Football Focus, actually convert quarterback-sneak situations at a higher rate than the Eagles do, at 84 percent of tries to 83, thanks in part to Josh Allen’s willingness and lower-body strength similar to Hurts’ in Philadelphia.
However, after the vote to legislate the tush-push out of the sport failed, it is now incumbent on defensive coordinators around the league to scheme ways to stop it.
One NFL Executive has a simple plan.
“Play better defense on first, second, and third down,” an NFC executive told me bluntly, shortly after the NFL failed to scure the votes to ban the play. “It’s simple. Win the line of scrimmage. You aren’t running the tush push on 3rd-and-10 or 4th-and-5, right?”
The long-time personnel man believes that it will be “business” as usual for teams, whether the play stays around for the long-term beyond 2025, or not.
But, while much of the league’s case was built around a claim that injury risk rises when teams run the tush-push, yet did not supply any tangible data publicly to support that claim, the executive thinks that the tush-push’s days may still be numbered.
“It’s a football play,” the executive said. “It’s been going on forever, the quarterback sneak has … It’s the same thing as a QB sneak. It’s just back in the day, no one thought about pushing the quarterback in his ass, but here we are.
“You have a defense on the field for a reason, it’s 11 on 11, and the better team is going to win. It’s a football play, it’s not illegal. It would be like saying ‘You can’t run go-routes, because your wide receivers are too fast, so no go-routes this week.’”
For now, the Eagles, the Bills, and all 32 teams have the tush-push play as part of their arsenal, but how defenses adapt and whether the league eventually succeeds in eliminating the play that has become a lightning rod is bound to be a topic of conversation in offseasons yet to come.
Eagles Have Clear Plan for Rookie Jihaad Campbell
Eagles first-round rookie linebacker Jihaad Camnpbell was limited this spring, still recovering from torn labrum in his left shoulder.
Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio told reporters he believes that it might be August until Campbell is fully medically cleared to practice.
However, according to head coach Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia has big plans for the former Alabama standout’s training camp and preseason, regardless of how long it takes Campbell to strap on the pads.
“Making sure that he gets all the mental reps that he possibly can get at this particular time,” Sirianni told reporters before the Eagles’ final practice this spring. “I think we’re probably the only sport that practices more than they play, and then also that has more walkthrough even than you have practice reps.
“So he’s going to be getting a lot of those opportunities to watch walkthrough, to watch practice and get those mental reps because as a guy is not in, obviously you’re not working the fundamentals of block destruction or tackling or how to take the football away, but what you’re trying to make sure is that they have the mental part of the game down. Those are things that he can do in the film room. Those are things he can do out in the field when he is watching practice. So that’s his mission right now and our goal for him right now.”
Campbell finished last season with a career-high 117 total tackles with five sacks, 12 tackles for loss, one interception, and one fumble recovery.
The Eagles are banking on Campbell making an immediate impact alongside ascendent All-Pro Zack Baun and contributing in the pass rush, as well.
First things first, for Campbell and the Eagles, will be getting the No. 31 overall pick on the field this summer hoping he’ll return to playing instinctually again rather than merely going through mental reps learning coordinator Vic Fangio’s defense.
