It was late in the third quarter, and the Philadelphia Eagles were deep in Chicago territory, trailing 10-9. So on third-and-1 at the 12-yard line, they went to their bread-and-butter play: The tush push.<\/p>\n
This time, however, not only did the tush push not work, but it backfired spectacularly. As the forward momentum of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was slowed, Nahshon Wright came off the edge, yanked the ball loose from Hurts\u2019 grasp and recovered it. The Chicago Bears went on to score 14 straight points en route to a 24-15 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n After months of back-and-forth over the controversial play the Eagles made famous \u2014 Should it be banned<\/a>? Is it too dangerous<\/a>? Is it too hard to officiate<\/a>? \u2014 Friday night\u2019s play brings up a new question. Did Wright provide a blueprint for stopping the dang thing?<\/p>\n After the game, Hurts acknowledged that teams are getting better at defending the tush push.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s becoming tougher and tougher,\u201d he said. \u201cBut ultimately, me holding onto the ball, that\u2019s something I can control.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s true, but if teams increasingly focus on ripping the ball out while Hurts is surrounded \u2014 and held up \u2014 by the mass of teammates around him, possession might become more difficult to control. Indeed, in Week 8 against the New York Giants<\/a>, Hurts had the ball ripped out by Kayvon Thibodeaux, who also recovered it. That time, the referees ruled his forward progress had been stopped and blew the play dead before the fumble. On Friday, that split-second judgment call didn\u2019t come in time.<\/p>\n \u201cI was hoping that (the forward progress) was stopped, but it wasn\u2019t,\u201d Hurts said. \u201cIt was kind of similar to the New York game except that they just didn\u2019t blow the whistle as soon. That\u2019s not to point the finger at anyone else. I mean, I have to hold onto the ball. It definitely presents itself as an issue, and it always has. It\u2019s just never gotten us, and so today it got us, and it\u2019s something that we and I need to tighten up.\u201d<\/p>\n .@nahwrig<\/a> said “I’ll take that”<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcfa: @NFLonPrime<\/a> | #ProBowlVote<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/RaVHaop7FJ<\/a><\/p>\n