

Tom Brady continues to try to revolutionise the Las Vegas Raiders as the seven-time Super Bowl champion snatches a key backroom asset from Jalen Hurts‘ Philadelphia Eagles, weeks before preparation for the 2025/26 NFL season is due to begin.
Anthony Patch, a longtime cornerstone of the Philadelphia Eagles‘ scouting department, has accepted a new position with the Raiders as senior personnel executive and thus walks away from the Lincoln Financial Field.
Patch, who joined the Eagles in 2002, has been instrumental in the organization’s talent identification and draft strategy through the good times and the bad, and played a key role in assembling two Super Bowl-caliber rosters.
His departure marks a pivotal moment for the Eagles’ front office and comes at a time when the team is also facing league-wide scrutiny over its controversial but effective quarterback sneak tactic, the “Tush Push.”
The variation of the quarterback sneak famously employed by Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offensive line has proven highly successful in Phillie with an 82% conversion rate. But now it is under fire from the NFL.
Officials are considering a ban on all forms of player pushing during rushing attempts, which is frustrating the Eagles and their coaching staff who have so effectively employed the tactic.
Suggestions are that it actually hurts the on-field product by stifling creative plays and also leading to a predictable outcome, frustrating fans watching on from homes or even spending their hard-earned cash on tickets.
“Let’s just get rid of all pushing,” Mike Florio said, paraphrasing the NFL agenda, to The Rich Eisen Show. “That’s the easiest way to do it.
“Get rid of all pushing downfield anywhere. And that is the direction in which the wind is blowing very strongly right now. All pushing is going to be eliminated.”
Can the Eagles respond?
In a league where innovation is often met with resistance, the play has become symbolic of Philadelphia’s gritty, no-nonsense style of football that even Steve Spagnuolo at the Kansas City Chiefs couldn’t stop.
If pushing is outlawed, Mike Florio believes the Eagles will still adapt, crediting Hurts’ physicality and the offensive line’s dominance near the end zone.
If history is any indication, the organization is more than capable of reinventing itself, but with the departure of Anthony Patch and the potential demise of their most recognizable play, the Eagles are at a crossroads.
How will the front office respond? That will be found out on Thursday, September 4 when Philadelphia welcome their champions back home in the NFL Kickoff Game but this has given them extra fire before the season starts.
“We work so hard at that play,” Nick Sirianni, head coach, said. “There are three NFL head coaches who better vote for it to stay.”
This news was originally published on this post .
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