Wearing an “Eagles t-shirt” in 2020’s ‘Gold Rush’ song made Taylor Swift’s Pennsylvania fandom clear, but it didn’t give Philadelphia a free pass on the field. When the Eagles repeatedly unleashed the controversial “Tush Push” against Kansas City, Swift made her distaste loud and clear. That candid reaction caught the ear of former NFL director and VP of Officiating Dean Blandino, sparking an unexpected friendship born over shared hatred for rugby-style scrums.

“We did a game in Kansas City last year,” Blandino said on the House of Haymaker show. “It was the Eagles and Chiefs, the Super Bowl rematch. And we happened to be staying over that Sunday night. Now, Erin Andrews, who I work with, is very close with Travis and Taylor, and they were having a birthday party for Patrick Mahomes at this restaurant.

“We went. It was kind of a smaller group. And I expressed my, for lack of a better term, frustration with the tush push. We walk in, we hang out. This person came up to me, gave me a big hug, and said that she agreed that the tush push sucks, and it was Taylor Swift and we just hit it off and became friends.”

The “Tush Push,” or “Brotherly Shove,” has become the single most dominant play of Philadelphia’s run for the past three seasons, powering the franchise through dozens of regular-season wins and back-to-back deep playoff pushes. Built specifically for short-yardage and goal-line scenarios, the mechanics are simple: QB Jalen Hurts takes a direct snap while additional ball carriers and tight ends line up behind him, physically shoving him through a surging defensive front. 

Opposing defenses remain virtually helpless against hundreds of pounds of offensive line force collapsing into a one-yard pile. Eagles center Cam Jurgens best described its mechanical precision: 

“It’s like a truck with four-wheel drive,” Jurgens said. “If something goes wrong, like a flat tire or this or that it’s not gonna work. It’s all of us moving together in unison.”  

The Eagles have an incredible percentage at executing the play. Philadelphia was 39 of 48 converting the “Tush Push” into a first down or touchdown this season (including playoffs). In Super Bowl LVII, the Eagles scored twice against the Chiefs using the Tush Push, with QB Jalen Hurts executing it flawlessly. That same year, in Week 11 of the 2023 regular season, Hurts used the Tush Push in the fourth quarter against Kansas City to power into the end zone for a 1-yard rushing touchdown, giving the Eagles a 21-17 lead. 

Then, in the Week 2 game last Season, the controversial play once again became the talking point when the Eagles ran it 7 times in a 20-17 victory at Arrowhead Stadium, where Taylor Swift was in attendance. 

During the same game, Dean Blandino was playing his role as the rules analyst for Fox Sports. He saw the Eagles exploit the Chiefs’ defense with the controversial play that compromised player safety and raised an issue with the move on-air.

“I am done with the tush push, guys. It’s a hard play to officiate,” Blandino said.

While the play hasn’t been completely banned by the NFL, there have been discussions regarding it. Last season, there was a rule change where players pushing the QB must stand at least 1 yard behind him. This change was made to prevent players from immediately shoving the quarterback after the snap, which could further risk injury.

Moreover, the Eagles aren’t the only team using this play to get a win. Teams like the Buffalo Bills also have been 29 of 37 on quarterback sneaks (78.4%), including the playoffs. Buffalo ran the sneak 37 times, second behind Philadelphia. But the Chiefs were still successful in stopping the Bills, contrary to their efforts against the Eagles.

“We did have some success against [Buffalo], but the Eagles are really good at it,” former Chiefs outside linebackers coach Rod Wilson told NBC News. “The main thing is try to get some knock-back against those guys, try to get them pushed back. That’s the only thing we can do to stop them.”

Despite all the outrage and high-profile complaints, the Chiefs and the rest of the NFL will likely have to solve the “Brotherly Shove” on the field. The League opted against proposing a rule change to ban the play, leaving officials with no new directives heading into the season. We can just hope that the turmoil surrounding the Tush Push will fade away naturally, without an NFL rule change being required.

Yet, for all the frustration the play has caused on the gridiron, it yielded one unexpected silver lining. Swift’s public alignment with Blandino over the “Tush Push” sparked a genuine friendship between the two. The mutual distaste for rugby-style football gave them plenty to bond over, ultimately earning the former officiating chiefs a prized invitation to her star-studded wedding at Madison Square Garden.