LOS ANGELES — There’s nothing subtle about the shove.
One of the plays the Philadelphia Eagles run in short-yardage situations is a sneak with a pair of players immediately behind the quarterback, each poised to push on his backside as soon as the ball is snapped.
It’s the “double-cheek push,” or at least that’s how NBC’s Cris Collinsworth described it a few weeks ago, and it’s emblematic of what we’re seeing all over the NFL this season. Instead of traditional blocking schemes, these surging clusters of humanity turn the ball carrier into a cork bobbing in a wave.
“It’s one of those ways, if you’re trying to get a yard, it seems like a pretty efficient way to be able to do it,” said Rams coach Sean McVay, whose team plays the Chargers on Sunday. “And maybe you’ll see it this week if we get into those short-yardage situations.”
Remember the “Bush Push”? That was 17 years ago when USC running back Reggie Bush used all his might to help knock quarterback Matt Leinart into the end zone for the winning touchdown at Notre Dame. It was a controversial moment because aiding the runner in that way wasn’t allowed in college football at the time. Compared to what’s happening in the NFL, that shove in South Bend was merely a gentle nudge.
Sports Info Solutions recently looked specifically at quarterback sneaks and calculated through the first 12 weeks that Philadelphia led the league in that department by a wide margin. Heading into December, the Eagles had executed 24 sneaks and 21 of them resulted in first downs. The next-closest teams were Cleveland (15 of 18), San Francisco (11 of 13), Cincinnati (11 of 11) and Chicago (eight of nine).
Former NFL and UCLA running back Maurice Jones-Drew said it often boils down to a simple calculation: Which 11 players are stronger?
“It’s just a mindset that you have that you’re going to fight for every inch,”