The Eagles lined up at the Washington goal line and ran their signature short-yardage play, the “tush push,” multiple times, drawing frustration and multiple penalties. After Saquon Barkley came up just short of a touchdown, the Eagles tried the tush push but failed on the first attempt due to an offside penalty against Washington. They lined up again but bungled the snap, resulting in a loss of yards. Washington kept jumping offsides, sometimes intentionally, trying to time the snap and disrupt the play. Refs warned Washington that if the offsides continued, they could award the Eagles a touchdown under the rule for a “palpably unfair act.”
Despite a series of encroachment flags and a messy sequence filled with restarts and referee conferences, the Eagles ended up right at the goal line after moving the ball inches at a time without actually running plays. Eventually, they punched it in with a clean tush push, pushing the score to 40-23 in the fourth quarter. The play remains controversial because it’s so hard to stop, leading to debate over whether it should be banned. For now, the Eagles keep using it, and defenses still don’t have a consistent way to counter it. Washington tried to disrupt it with early jumps, but in the end, the Eagles still got their touchdown.