“A danger to players . . . not in keeping with the spirit of the game . . . virtually unstoppable.”
That’s what they were saying about the Flying Wedge not too long after it was introduced by Harvard against Yale in 1892.
Hailed as the most spectacular play in the history of football, it nevertheless was banned just two years later as the populace complained about the brutality of both that play and the sport in general.
Early football’s vicious nature persisted in the first decade of the 20th century, and in 1905, no fewer than 19 players were reported killed playing the game.
After that devastating toll, there were cries to abolish the game. But President Theodore Roosevelt instead insisted on rules changes to make football safer.
It took a century, but exactly 100 years later the National Football League, as we know it today, adopted a rule that made what is now known as the “Tush Push”—or in Philadelphia, where the Eagles perfected it, the “Brotherly Shove”—a legal play.
The TP or BS isn’t close to the Flying Wedge of the late 1800s. At best, it’s Son of Wedge.
Back then there was no such thing as motion before the snap, or offsides, either. What made the Wedge so effective was that the offensive players began charging forward before the quarterback called for the ball.
But the same arguments were made by proponents of banning Son of Wedge when the NFL voted last week at the league’s spring meeting in Eagan, Minnesota on a proposal by the Green Bay Packers to outlaw the play.
Think of that! The storied Green Bay Packers led the opposition to an innovative offensive play!
Had I been in that meeting, I would have rebutted those arguments as follows:
No serious injuries were cited as evidence of any unique danger to players as a result of Son of Wedge. (Participants wore little or no protective equipment in the early days; the NFL didn’t require helmets until 1943.)
Exactly what is the spirit of the game, if it’s not to knock the other guy on his butt and move the ball forward? (And, by the way, what fan hasn’t seen players from his or her team, at one time or other during any season you mention since 2006, push a teammate forward with the ball as the opposition tried to stop him?)
Virtually unstoppable? In the last three seasons combined, the Eagles have failed to make a first down or to score a touchdown via Son of Wedge on about 15% of their tries.
Along with my Son of Wedge defense, I would have issued a challenge:
If it’s so hard to stop, design a version of the play yourself instead of trying to ban it.
Find 11 tough guys of your own to gain one measly yard when a first down or touchdown is at stake.
Hire a rugby coach, if that’s what it takes to teach your guys to replicate what the Eagles do? (NFL staffs already have a coach for every other imaginable need.)
Or, here’s an idea: Devise a defense that’ll stop the Eagles cold when they try it. Adapt.
Stopping Son of Wedge by changing the rules is like trying to deny Donald Trump the Presidency by attempting to send him to jail before the election or seeking to impeach him after he wins.
The undertaking was defeated for the 2025 season because only 22 of the league’s 32 teams favored it. Passage required two-thirds, or in this case, 24 votes.
Besides the Eagles, the 10 teams rejecting the ban on the Tush Push included eight that don’t play Philadelphia this season—Baltimore, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Miami, New England, New Orleans, Tennessee and the Jets—and one that could have to confront it, Detroit.
Among the 22 in favor of outlawing the play were all three of Philadelphia’s NFL East opponents—the New York Giants, Washington and Dallas—who all play the Eagles twice each season.
Another that supported sending Son of Wedge the way of its truly more dangerous forerunner was your Denver Broncos (who voluntarily did away with their striped, brown-and-mustard socks in a public burning in 1962).
They play the Eagles in Philly in Week 5, by the way.
A mere coincidence, no doubt.
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Denny Dressman’s 17th book, a collaboration with Kansas City artist Anthony High titled Black Baseball’s Heyday – Capturing An Era in Art and Words, will be published in late June. You can write to Denny at denny
dressman@comcast.net.