ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — With a trip to Philadelphia next on the Denver Broncos’ agenda, count coach Sean Payton in as a vocal supporter of the Eagles’ tush push play.
The Broncos (2-2) face the Eagles (4-0) Sunday (1 p.m. ET) at Lincoln Financial Field.
“I was one that stood up in favor of [it],” Payton said Tuesday. “The reason I stood up in favor of it is pretty simple, if the powers to be don’t want it for aesthetic reasons or competitive reasons, you know, [that] it’s hard to officiate etc … but I’ve been involved in those meetings for a long time [and] when all of a sudden health and safety was pulled into that — which might be the safest play in football — my bulls— nose kind of went up.”
Payton pointed to the Eagles’ overall proficiency of the play and also referenced Philadelphia’s third quarter touchdown in the Eagles’ 31-25 victory Sunday over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With 3 minutes, 57 seconds left in the third quarter, the Eagles lined up in the now familiar tightly bunched formation and then instead of powering quarterback Jalen Hurts up the middle, Hurts spun and pitched the ball to running back Saquon Barkley on a sweep for a 6-yard touchdown run.
It gave the Eagles a 31-13 lead.
“Look, it’s a quarterback sneak and I think credit Philadelphia,” Payton said. “… I’m one who looks at it as long as the line of scrimmage is clean that it’s a well-run quarterback sneak. And when you really evaluate it, it’s really the technique of the sneak more than the push. You go all the way back to Green Bay and Dallas in the Ice Bowl (the 1967 NFL Championship Game) and fricking Bart Starr crossed the goal-line with someone pushing a little bit of behind him.”