Big news dropped on the Eagles’ “tush push” play after their 20-17 win over the Chiefs. The NFL confirmed officials missed a false start call during a crucial goal-line push by Philadelphia. The officiating department dropped its memo and distributed a training video showing the missed false start in close detail. Now, refs have been told to watch false starts and offensive offsides on the tush push like hawks going forward. The league’s training video informed officials to “these plays tight and make sure that every aspect of the offensive team is legal.”

This admission puts the spotlight directly on the play, now under heavy scrutiny. Ramon George, VP Head of NFL Officiating, said, “We want to officiate it tight. We want to be black and white and be as tight as we can be when we get into this situation where teams are in the bunch position and we have to officiate them being onsides, movement early.” That will all happen in the upcoming games. The Chiefs paid the price on Sunday, and now that social media has exploded with frame-by-frame analyses, the rules are changing.

But Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni didn’t shy away from the controversy. “We know we have to be right,” he said, acknowledging the pressure to execute perfectly. He also pointed out that, “I think that the one clip I saw of it was slowed down so much that I’m not sure you can see that to the naked eye. I mean, it was slowed down so much.” Sirianni stressed that fans can slow down and zoom in on every play, but refs don’t get that luxury. They have to make split-second calls in real time. He compared it to those pass interference calls everyone argues about.

The play in question is the goal-line moment where the Eagles are running their signature short-yardage push play to shove Jalen Hurts past the first down on third and one with 5:29 left in the fourth quarter. And in that, both Eagles’ guards seemed to jump before the snap, maybe even lining up offside. The clips slowed down frame by frame, sparking a debate on whether Philly got away with false starts the refs missed. Sirianni accepted responsibility, saying the play must be executed cleanly and by the rules. “We understand that we have to be perfect on that play. And we’ll keep working on being perfect on that play.”

When the play happened, Fox’s broadcast flagged Eagles guards Landon Dickerson and Tyler Steen for moving early. The push play got a shoutout in a separate officiating rules video sent out to all 32 NFL teams on Wednesday. That clip showed the Saints running a tush push against the Cardinals in Week 1. It highlighted how closely officials are now watching these plays.

Kansas City’s head coach, Andy Reid, added his take, saying he “might have seen a couple of them that got off a little early on.” He kept his stance open, noting that the team will review the plays more closely. Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones voiced his frustration but accepted the missed calls as part of the game’s pace. “We think he jumped multiple times. The official didn’t see it, so it wasn’t called. We just have to go play the next down. It happens. People jump all the time,” Jones said. But now Sirianni is making sure the team takes instant action to fix it.

Coach Nick Sirianni vows immediate fixes

The head coach reacted to the NFL’s increased scrutiny with swift resolve. The message was simple: tighten up or face consequences. He made it clear that he’s on top of this. “You just address it and you work on it like you do every play with the rules of the game…I know there’s a lot of chatter about the play, but we’re coaching it the same way we always have,” Sirianni said.

The Eagles ran the push seven times Sunday, converting five, including one touchdown that survived clear defensive pressure. Even though a Chiefs penalty negated one successful conversion, the Eagles chose to accept it to get better positioning. Early on, Kevin Patullo joked about how closely the refs needed to officiate the play. But Sirianni’s approach sends a warning: the Birds will keep weaponizing the push, but mistakes won’t be tolerated.

The offseason debate over whether to ban or not ban tush push went on after the Packers’ bid to ban it. But missed it by just two votes at the May owners’ meeting. The Super Bowl champs will keep running the tush push for at least one more season. Then, come spring 2026, we can again go back to the same old debate all over again.