Would football be the same if legends never pushed the limits? If Michael Irvin hadn’t forced a new penalty, would the Cowboys now be at the center of the ‘tush push’ debate? For Jerry Jones, it’s less about hating the play and more about how evolution makes the league redraw its lines.
The ‘tush push’, the Philadelphia Eagles’ signature short-yardage quarterback sneak, has cause an uproar more than discussions. It’s so unstoppable that it was just two votes away from being outlawed in the last NFL owners’ meeting. And Jones isn’t ruling out its demise before the 2026 season. Speaking on 105.3 The Fan, JJ shared his take:
“Well, it very easily could be. But, often, I’m going to compare this to Michael Irvin, the Michael Irvin rule. Michael had a technique that would give him an instant separation from the defensive back. And of course, [Troy] Eichman had the ball there when he separated, but he’d kind of punch him, just punch him down on the hip, and that had that separation.”
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Jones also traces the arc from Irvin’s hip punch to the ban on horse-collar tackles, each rule change nudged by a team pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. And the tush push might be going down a similar road after this season. He said:
“Well, it was so effective the league banned. That’s not uncommon. Did the same thing uh but for safety reasons uh when we had the horse collar tackle.”
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Yet Jones insists the play isn’t dirty or unfair by nature. It’s the product of having “A quarterback that is unique and relative to his strength and that makes that play go.”
Alluding to Jalen Hurts’ sheer athleticism and determination, Jerry calls the play an “art.”
As JJ further adds, “Now they’ve got it down to an art but their point was others could have it down to an art too. When do we change rules because a team has gotten excellent at it? Well, we’ve done it before. There’s a long history of changing rules because teams get excellent at it.”
NFL’s history, Jones explains, is littered with memorable innovations that beg for countermeasures. When defenses adapted, offenses found new wrinkles. Coaches like Tom Landry and Don Shula spent years tweaking strategies, but sometimes the league steps in to redraw the guardrails, forcing everyone to adjust and innovate again.
If the ‘tush push’ finally gets banned in the next NFL meeting, the Eagles would have to pivot, while their opponents breathe easier. Until then, the almost undefeated short-yardage sneak will continue to terrorize defenses.
As Eagles RB Saquon Barkley put it in their Week 2 matchup against the Chiefs, “Everybody know what’s coming – It don’t f—— matter.”
But it’s not just on-field exploits that keep Jerry Jones and the league on their toes. With Tom Brady’s unique dual hats as a minority owner of the Raiders and Fox Sports analyst, whispers swirl about competitive advantage.
Could Brady, privy to both inside-the-box schematics and televised production meetings, become a pipeline of secrets to his own franchise?
Jerry Jones and the Tom Brady question
For the entirety of last season, the league had imposed a special rule on Tom Brady. Since he is a minority franchise owner, he wasn’t allowed to cover pregame production meetings with the teams. Brady had to rely on second-hand information from his Fox crewmates. But the league decided to forgo that rule this season.
The only restriction being Brady would still be barred from attending the practice sessions. Heated conversations grew about this giving the Raiders an unfair advantage. And Jerry Jones has now shared his take on it as well.
Jones doesn’t see it. “I’m not concerned about it. Not at all,” he states plainly. Jones draws a parallel to his first year on the competition committee, where Jones was told by legendary coaches like Marty Schottenheimer and Don Shula that it didn’t matter if they had the intel on the Cowboys’ schemes.
“They said, ‘you know, Jerry, everybody in this league read your signals and we knew when you were going to run, we knew when you were going to pass and we actually, by the way you tipped it off, knew which direction we were going to go. We still couldn’t stop you.’”
Jerry makes the case that given Brady’s position, he needs to have as much information as possible. But ultimately it’s up to the teams to come through with their schemes even when the opponent knows what’s coming.
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Cowboys HC Brian Schottenheimer has also echoed Jerry’s sentiment around Tom Brady. “Everybody has everybody’s playbook. Everybody knows somebody that knows somebody that’s been some place. I don’t have a problem with it. … I’ll talk football with anybody.”
For Schotty, as well as Jones, football’s about execution, not just information. Every team, every player, ultimately faces the same crucible under pressure. At the end of the day, all that matters is how well you can play, despite the informational disadvantages.