DeVonta Smith breaks down Eagles’ ‘Tush Push’: ‘Bad things happen when you’re in the pile’

There is perhaps not a more frequently discussed play in football than the quarterback ‘Tush Push‘ popularized by the Eagles. Philadelphia paces the league in its version of the QB sneak, converting more than 80% of its attempts. But that doesn’t mean the play is easy on anybody’s bodies, including those of the Eagles.

“Man, I’mma push a little bit, but then, look, I ain’t tryna get up in that pile, man,” wide receiver DeVonta Smith said Wednesday on ESPN’s “This is Football” podcast. “Bad things happen when you’re in the pile.”

Unlike a traditional QB sneak, which typically only involves the QB pushing forward on a short-yardage situation, the push play sees several players physically push the QB from behind, creating a rugby-esque collision between both teams in the trenches.

“For folks that’s never been at the bottom of the pile, you can’t breathe,” Smith explained. “It’s just like, everybody’s on top of you. No matter how hard you try to breathe, it just doesn’t work. … I think at this point (our guys) just lay there. They don’t say nothing, they just be laying there, just waiting for somebody to help them up.”

And yet, Smith added, the Eagles love to run it. Why? Because they’re so good at it.

“The details,” he said. “We don’t just go out there and practice it at practice. It’s the details of it. And also half of it is just the will to wanna do it. Those guys (on the offensive line), they enjoy doing stuff like that. When we got to 1-yard situations, they will sit there laughing. … I honestly feel like there’s nothing to do unless we fumble it. I feel like that’s the only way you can … stop it.”