The Philadephia Eagles have raised quite a few eyebrows this season with their controversial – and very successful – quarterback sneak. The team uses extra players to push quarterback Jalen Hurts from behind over the line of scrimmage. The Eagles have been doing it successfully all season, but it got a lot more attention in the Super Bowl, and now one former player is speaking out.
During his podcast The Arthur Moats Experience, former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats talked about just how difficult that play is to stop from a defensive point of view.
“It’s tough, tough, tough. They’re not (the first team to use this play) but they’re one of the ones that do it at a high level and it was in the Super Bowl. Once again you see a play that looks like it’s unstoppable. Because Philly started to weaponize it in this game where you really couldn’t stop it, they would go for it every fourth down,” Moats said.
Arthur Moats said the play is so unstoppable that the Eagles should simply run it on every short-yardage situation.
“I’m like why would you run anything other than that dang gone QB sneak? Because the way Kelce is able to barrel crawl and get underneath, that’s your leverage right there,” Moats said. “They’re going to bear crawl Hurts over the top, that’s cool until your quarterback’s hit in the face.”
Moats thinks the NFL should make a rule change that bans this type of play, but not just because it’s unfair. Moats said it’s also unsafe and will inevitably lead to injuries.”
“You keep doing that QB sneak, your guys are going down low, your quarterback is sitting right up here, up top. Headshotted. It’s bad, it’s dirty, it’s not a good thing but you want a person to stop running that play that’s what you do. Because you hit Jalen Hurts one time legitimately in the face as the ball carrier, because that’s what he is, you go down there and put that Riddell on him like he’s a real running back and I can assure you they would not be calling that QB sneak as frequently,” Moats said.
We’ll have to see if the league makes any changes.
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