Eagles 'Brotherly Shove' play: Philadelphia evolves QB sneak with D'Andre Swift counter run TD

Jacob Camenker

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Eagles 'Brotherly Shove' play: Philadelphia evolves QB sneak with D'Andre Swift counter run TD image

The Eagles' "Brotherly Shove" has been one of the most effective plays in football over the last season-plus.

But in Week 8, the Commanders found a way to stop the almost-automatic sneak in a key spot.

Washington's stop came in the early stages of the third quarter. The Eagles had the ball on the Commanders' 1-yard line and attempted to run the sneak on first-and-goal.

But just as Jalen Hurts began to push forward, the Commanders were able to hit him squarely and stop his forward momentum. Washington then forced a fumble, which it then recovered to stop the scoring chance.

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That play looked like it would be a crucial moment for the Commanders as they looked to upset the Eagles. And it did allow Washington to stay competitive with the one-loss Eagles for longer than many presumed the team would.

However, the Eagles were able to push back on Washington's defense as the second half went on. The Commanders eventually wore down, and that allowed the Eagles to build a seven-point lead.

It looked like that might be the final margin of the game with 1:53 left in regulation when the Eagles lined up to run the "Brotherly Shove" on a third and 2.

But Philadelphia had a trick up its sleeve. It finally showed a counter look off the "Tush Push" play; running back D'Andre Swift took a handoff from Jalen Hurts as the quarterback pretended to plunge forward. That opened up a clear path to the end-zone for Swift.

That counter showed a potential way for the "Brotherly Shove" to evolve if teams find a way to stop it more consistently. Perhaps the Commanders' success in forcing the turnover earlier in the game is what influenced Nick Sirianni to test out the alternate play involving Swift.

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Either way, the Eagles seem to be experimenting with ways to make their quarterback sneak more unstoppable.

And if they can succeed, as they did with the Swift run, then they will continue to confound NFL teams in short-yardage situations.

Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker Photo

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.