Stopping the 'tush push': The Chiefs admit they may not have an answer for the Eagles' most effective play

NEW ORLEANS — In the fourth quarter of the AFC championship game, the Buffalo Bills were nursing a 22-21 lead over the Kansas City Chiefs when they faced a fourth-and-1 on the Chiefs’ 41-yard line.

NEW ORLEANS — In the fourth quarter of the AFC championship game, the Buffalo Bills were nursing a 22-21 lead over the Kansas City Chiefs when they faced a fourth-and-1 on the Chiefs’ 41-yard line.

In what was arguably the game's biggest play, the Bills called a quarterback sneak — which quarterback Josh Allen had converted for a first down 20 of 21 times in the 2024 season before the conference championship.

Allen, as he’d done for most of the season, took the snap and tried to find room to his left. Kansas City’s defense was waiting and stuffed him short of a first down — or at least mucked up the play enough that a replay review couldn’t determine whether Allen had reached the line to gain.

That stop was the fourth time in the game the Chiefs had rebuffed Allen on designed sneaks, holding him to 2-for-6 on such plays.

But trying to stop Allen in short yardage was only a warmup for Kansas City’s defense, which now faces the NFL’s Final Boss of quarterback sneaks: the Philadelphia Eagles’ “tush push.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/nfl/tush-push-eagles-chiefs-rcna189704

---