Over the past several seasons, the Philadelphia Eagles have enjoyed an absurd 92% success rate on their own variation of the quarterback sneak. Labeled the “Tush Push” due to several players lining up the quarterback and driving him forward, the play pushed the Eagles to a Super Bowl berth last season as it has become virtually impossible to stop.
Well, virtually impossible may be the key word there.
Bengals Shut Down the Tush Push for the Win
There have been jokes related to other teams inabilities to execute the tush push with the same effectiveness as the Eagles have run it. That was put on clear display by the Minnesota Vikings as the team attempted back-to-back quarterback sneaks on third and fourth down on the Cincinnati 40 yard line in overtime.
The first quarterback sneak gained abut a yard and was fairly successful. The second sneak was blown up completely as quarterback Nick Mullens actually lost yardage as the Vikings turned the ball over on downs.
.@Bengals force a turnover on downs on 4th & Inches #RuleTheJungle
📺: #MINvsCIN on @NFLNetwork
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/vtmfEKvOLy pic.twitter.com/WoFPvYcvT1— NFL (@NFL) December 16, 2023
The first mistake run by Minnesota is that they brought in their smallest receiver as the driving power behind the quarterback. It is hard to believe that wide receiver Brandon Powell could bring much power considering that he weights 181 pounds soaking wet.
While it wasn’t tremendously well run by Minnesota, Cincinnati played the second sneak perfectly as perfectly possible. Defensive tackle B.J. Hill won the leverage game as he got a tremendous jump and went directly into the knees of the center and guard. Hill pushed the two linemen back into the quarterback and caused the loss on the play.
While the Eagles may run the play significantly better with All-Pro center Jason Kelce, Cincinnati may be on to something with this one as they essentially won the game on this fourth down stop. It is worth noting that Cincinnati made the stop without their elite run stopper D.J. Reader, who is likely out for the remainder of the season with a torn quadriceps muscle.
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