Neil deGrasse Tyson explains how to stop Eagles’ Tush Push play

Over the last three years, it became perhaps the most important question in the NFL. Is it possible to stop the Philadelphia Eagles’ “Tush Push?”

The success rate is impressive at nearly 90%. That’s why teams are searching for ways to stop it – and Neil deGrasse Tyson explained how teams should, or rather shouldn’t, go about it.

deGrasse Tyson broke the play down with NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt ahead of Super Bowl LIX against the Kansas City Chiefs. He pointed out how many times the Eagles convert the play, which involves two players pushing quarterback Jalen Hurts while the offensive line effectively becomes a rugby scrum.

But one thing they shouldn’t do, he said, is jump over the way Washington Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu did in the NFC Championship.

“If I’m on the opposing team, I want to jump over you because the quarterback is ready to come over,” deGrasse Tyson said. “So I jump over you. And you know what happens if you jump over? You’re no longer connected to the Earth. … If you’re not connected to the Earth, you’ve got nothing to press against. And I know this because I used to wrestle.”

However, one of the most cited reasons for the Tush Push’s success is Hurts’ leg strength. He famously can squat more than 600 pounds, which is why he’s so hard to tackle.

But when it comes to the Tush Push, deGrasse Tyson said Hurts’ strength isn’t a factor. He still ends up jumping, which is why he needs the players behind him for the push.

“That is irrelevant in this play, because he’s airborne,” deGrasse Tyson said of Hurts’ squat max. “He’s got two pushers here – one on each butt cheek, hence the ‘Tush Push.’ … Force equals the mass times the acceleration.

“What that means is the bigger the mass, the bigger the force you will need to create the acceleration. The guys who are connected to the Earth, their mass includes that of the Earth because they are attached to the Earth.”

So, it goes back to the original question. Is it possible to stop the Tush Push? To answer that, deGrasse Tyson pointed out other unstoppable forces in the universe.

In short, you can’t stop it.

“You know there are stars that explode and nothing can stop them? We call them supernova,” deGrasse Tyson said. “We can see them across the universe. That’s how bright they are. A black hole, when it forms, it forms and you’re not stopping it. No known force in the universe can stop it.

“So I’m happy to chalk this up as another inevitable consequence of the laws of physics manifest in this universe.”

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