The NFL admitted that the Eagles should have been called for at least one false start on their signature tush push play during Sunday’s 20-17 win over the Chiefs, the Washington Post reported Thursday.
The league made the admission in a training tape for game officials that was distributed to the head coaches and general managers of all 32 NFL teams this week. In the videotape, Ramon George, the NFL’s vice president of officiating training and development, shared a few key details of how the tush push play should be policed amid controversy over missed false start calls from the Eagles-Chiefs game.
The example used in the video was an Eagles’ tush push play on a 3rd-and-1 with 5:29 left in the fourth quarter. George pointed out what NFL officials should be looking for on the quarterback sneak—primarily, any early movement along the O-line—and instructed officials to call these plays “tight” moving forward.
“You can see the right guard moves early,” George said. “You’ve got your defender who’s trying to punch the ball. But more so, we have a false start coming from the right guard. We want to make sure that we officiate these plays tight and make sure that every aspect of the offensive team is legal and any movement … that’s not correct, we want to shut it down as a false start. False start would be the proper call here.”
George added that these short-yardage situations were difficult to officiate, echoing the words of ex-Eagles center Jason Kelce in Wednesday’s New Heights episode.
“Anytime we have this situation we’re in short yardage, we know we want to make sure that we officiate these plays—the offensive team has to be perfect in every aspect,” George said. “We want to officiate it tight. We want to be black and white and be as tight as we can be when we get into this situation where teams are in the bunch position and we have to officiate them being onsides, movement early. … This is a very hard play to officiate. I get it.”
The Eagles also appeared to false-start on a one-yard touchdown by Jalen Hurts in the fourth quarter, which was called out by the Fox broadcast.
The Eagles’ notorious tush push play polarized fans and pundits last year but lived to see another season after the tush push ban vote did not pass at the annual NFL owners’ meeting in May. With the play yet again facing heavy scrutiny in 2025, it seems the league is consciously making an effort to officiate it better.
