Tom Brady sends Eagles’ Jalen Hurts a warning on tush push: “You’re putting yourself in harm’s way”
Jalen Hurts' QB sneak play has drawn the attention of Tom Brady. The retired quarterback has seen what he's doing and how successful it is, but he has a warning for the young star. The play is wildly successful, but it can also be dangerous.
He said on the Let's Go! podcast:
“The only thing I worry about in that particular play is they all know what's coming when you line up in formation and that quarterback is going to take a lot of shots. I don't know how many times you want your quarterback taking shots."
The hits pile up quickly in the NFL. Other mobile quarterbacks have seen their careers shortened because of the hits they took, and Hurts is willingly subjecting himself to some by doing this sneak over and over. Brady continued:
“So yeah, it's effective for a one-yard gain but it might be ineffective someday when someone hits a right shoulder of the quarterback because they know it's coming."
He knows there's short-term gain for the Philadelphia Eagles in the almost guaranteed first down. That is an unprecedented level of success, and it's helping them win games. Nevertheless, Brady fears the long-term impact on a bright star at the quarterback position:
"So you may have some short-term gain, you may have some long-term painoso they might have to come up with a tush toss or a tush push or some variation of the tush push to keep people honest because if they keep lining up and your teammate’s your quarterback, and even though Jalen is a pretty strong guy, you're putting yourself in harm's way.”
The Eagles have been so successful, but is it taking an unnecessary risk?
What is the Eagles' QB sneak success rate?
The Eagles run the Tush Push, as it is now being called, very often. Jason Kelce snaps the ball to Jalen Hurts and surges forward with the rest of the offensive line. Running backs are behind Hurts to give him more forward momentum.
If they time it correctly, the defense can't really get a push-back, which is why it has been 92% successful thus far.