Here’s what got Chiefs’ Chris Jones mad against the Eagles. It wasn’t a tush push
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Chris Jones clarified sideline frustration targeted repeated inside zone runs.
- Chiefs limited Eagles' tush push success, stopping two of six legal attempts.
- Tush push drew renewed scrutiny after no-call on possible false start penalty.
A clip making the rounds on social media this week shows Chris Jones on the Chiefs’ bench during Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. In the video, he’s complaining loudly:
“They ran the same play seven (freaking) times!”
Five days after the Chiefs’ 20-17 home loss to the Eagles, Jones clarified the subject of his ire.
It wasn’t the Eagles’ tush push.
“Yeah, that clip that was going around wasn’t because of the tush push,” he said. “It was because of an inside zone they had run five or six times. I never once complained about the tush push on the sideline.”
One reason for that: Jones believed the Chiefs had a good success rate in stopping the play the Eagles have made famous. In tush push plays, run in short-yardage situations, Philly quarterback Jalen Hurts takes a snap and churns forward behind a powerful offensive line. Backs help push Hurts, and the play has picked up a first down or touchdown more than 95% of the time in fourth-and-1 scenarios.
The Eagles lined up in the formation seven times against the Chiefs on Sunday. On one play, the Chiefs were penalized for being offside. On the other six tush push snaps, the Eagles converted four — three for a first down and one for a touchdown.
The Chiefs stopped it twice, and Philadelphia converted on the next snap both times.
“We actually stopped the tush push,” Jones said. “We stopped it multiple times. The clip you saw was portrayed like, they ran the tush push and I came out (and complained). No. they ran inside zone five times. We’ve got to adjust to that.
“There’s no team that’s going to come out and run inside zone five times on us and we don’t adjust to that.”
A tush push touchdown midway through the fourth quarter turned out to be the winning score for the Eagles, but even before the game had ended, that play came under scrutiny. Philadelphia linemen appeared to have committed a false-start penalty.
It wasn’t called, and former referee and FOX Sports rules analyst Dean Blandino said on the air, “I’m done with the tush push, guys. It’s hard to officiate.”
Also, on the final tush push later in the fourth quarter, the ball ended up in the grasp of Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill, but it wasn’t ruled a fumble. Officials couldn’t determine whether Hurts’ progress was stopped or if he had fumbled.
In an effort led by the Green Bay Packers, 22 of 32 teams voted in the offseason to ban the tush push, falling two votes shy of ratification.
The Chiefs were part of the majority that voted against the tush push, but at least last weekend Jones had nothing against the play.
This story was originally published September 18, 2025 at 1:49 PM.