MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel is sticking with another truism when it comes to the Tush Push:
Know your limitations.
Because up to this point, McDaniel has been reluctant to use the Philadelphia Eagles’ go-to short-yardage play — even as he and the rest of the NFL have had no answer for it.
Should Miami Dolphins Consider Incorporating Tush Push?
As a refresher, the Tush Push — known also as the Brotherly Shove — is a quarterback sneak where the entire offense crowds around quarterback Jalen Hurts and literally carries him past the first-down marker.
The Eagles used that display of dominance with great success time and again against the Dolphins in Week 7 and might not have won the game without it.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was so confident in Hurts’ ability to pick up the yard needed that he twice went for it on fourth and short, backed up in his own end, on Philadelphia’s game-clinching touchdown drive.
Thanks in large part to the Push, the Eagles lead the NFL in both third- (50%) and fourth-down (76.5%) conversion rates.
The Dolphins, meanwhile, rank 16th (39.6%) and 28th (38.5%) in those respective categories. So why not take a page out of the Eagles’ playbook — literally?
The short answer? The play is really hard to execute without the perfect personnel.
The Eagles’ offensive line collectively tips the scales at 1,622 pounds.
Philadelphia’s O-line outweighs Miami’s by 10 pounds per person.
What’s more, Hurts is the perfect athlete to execute the play. While he and Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa are the same height and basically the same weight, Hurts is much stronger in the lower body — which generates the driving power that’s needed.
“I was his lifting partner when I got there to Alabama and, oh my goodness, let me tell you: He could probably squat with our linemen or maybe just a little more,” Tagovailoa said a few weeks back. “This guy can squat. He’s strong. So it doesn’t surprise me with the quarterback sneaks.”
Another consideration: The play by its very nature puts the quarterback at heightened injury risk. McDaniel surely doesn’t want to lose Tagovailoa for weeks or even months over one or two yards.
The Dolphins coach told reporters this week that they have “done [their] due diligence” and have practiced the play but have decided up to this point against using it.
“To get really good at something, it has to fit everything that your players are really good at and you have to be all-in,” McDaniel added. “If you go and do something because it worked for somebody else and then try to employ it and expect those types of results, you’re probably going to fail.
“I think the whole league has tried it. It’s something that you never just say, ‘No, it’s not for us.’ You’re always, really each and every week, you’re deciding whether or not you want to orchestrate something to that effect in those situations, and you decide what best plays are for you and what plays aren’t.
“That’s why I respect the play, and that’s why I respect that they do it. I would love to have that success rate on third- and fourth-and-short. But the defense gets paid too, and you have to be very well-versed to have the success they have, which is why there’s only one — it would be different if every team was perfecting that.
“When you really look at all the quarterback sneaks, more often than not, there’s somebody that’s pushing, at this point in time, as a result of what they’ve done. But you just can’t sit there and say, ‘I want this play to work.’ You have to do what your players do best. That’s where we err. But shoot, the opening play of the game this week might be [a Tush Push]. It just might be.”
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