The Eagles received a significant boost from a badly blown call during their game against the Giants. Giants defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux stripped the ball from Jalen Hurts on a tush push, only for the officials to wrongly rule that Hurts’ forward progress had been stopped before the ball came loose.
Thibodeaux was visibly frustrated by the call but acknowledged after the game that it was far from the only reason the Giants lost. He pointed out a recurring issue with how the officials handle Hurts’ forward progress during the controversial tush push play.
“The officials allow Hurts to keep pushing forward in a pile-up even when he has been initially stopped, giving him the benefit of the additional ground he gains,” Thibodeaux explained. “But then they claim his forward progress has been stopped if he loses possession of the ball while trying to continue pushing forward. That’s some bullshit.”
He continued, “The refs have a tough job because they don’t know when to stop. It’s hard on the defense because you stop the first surge, the refs don’t blow the whistle. You get the ball out, you take it, and now it’s forward progress.”
Thibodeaux expressed confusion over how any defense is supposed to stop the tush push under these inconsistent rules. “He said they called forward progress before he reached the ball out. Sounds like some bullshit to me. That’s the hard part about the tush push.”
Despite his frustration with the officiating, Thibodeaux was clear that the officials were not the main reason for the Giants’ loss. “You can’t blame missed calls,” he said. “We didn’t stop the run. They made 50-50 balls. They got the best of us.”
Still, there’s no denying that the big missed call had an impact—and it certainly didn’t help the Giants’ cause in the 38-20 defeat.
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/kayvon-thibodeaux-tush-push-forward-progress-call-was-bs-but-we-cant-blame-loss-on-that