Philadelphia Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata has had enough of the media narrative that his team won Sunday’s Super Bowl rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs because of the tush push.
In an interview with 94 WIP on Philadelphia on Tuesday, Mailata said that it is “incredibly disrespectful” to the impact the Eagles’ defense and special teams had in the 20-17 victory at Kansas City.
“I understand the outrage [over the tush push]. What I don’t understand is them using it as an excuse to why we won the game. I think it’s incredibly disrespectful to our defense and our special teams who balled out. And my brothers on defense and special teams who balled out that game, who had our backs when we weren’t moving the ball or weren’t doing anything,” Mailata said.
“That pisses me off because we give so much to this game and to kind of base off a short-yardage play, that is a football play,” Mailata added, his voice raising. “And say that we won the game off that, but not how our defense played and not how our special teams have played, putting us in those positions. You know I think it’s bull crap.
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“I just think it’s rubbish. Absolute rubbish, man. It makes my blood boil just thinking about it.”
The turning point in Sunday’s game came via the defense. Early in the fourth quarter with the Chiefs trailing 13-10, tight end Travis Kelce failed to haul in Patrick Mahomes’ pass near the goal line, the ball caroming off his hands and into the possession of rookie safety Andrew Mukuba, who returned it 41 yards. Jalen Hurts scored via the tush push on the ensuing possession, giving the Eagles a commanding 10-point lead.
The Eagles ran the tush push six times Sunday, gaining four first downs and scoring the touchdown. Fox analyst Tom Brady and Chiefs coach Andy Reid suggested Sunday that Eagles offensive linemen were getting off the line of scrimmage before the snap but weren’t penalized.
The play faced banishment this offseason, but the proposal failed by two votes. The final vote was 22-10 on the proposal, which was submitted by the Green Bay Packers, at the NFL’s annual meeting in Eagan, Minnesota, in May. The proposal needed 24 votes to pass.
The Eagles have converted the play 96.6% of the time in fourth-and-1 scenarios since 2022.
ESPN’s Tim McManus contributed to this report.
