For years, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots were the standard for exploiting strategic loopholes in the NFL rulebook until rule changes occurred. Now, the 2022 NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles are the cause for a possible rulebook change regarding the way they run their quarterback sneak plays. The Eagles utilized a formation that many have likened to a rugby scrum to power Jalen Hurts, listed at 6-feet-1 and 223 pounds, ahead for first downs and touchdowns on their sneak plays, a play design that was nearly unstoppable.
Philadelphia converted 37 of their 41 quarterback sneak attempts into first downs or touchdowns, the most conversions and attempts by a wide margin in the 2022 season. No other offense has picked up 20 first downs on quarterback sneaks in a single season across the last 15 years.
Most quarterback sneak attempts in 2022 season
| Conversions/Attempts | |
|---|---|
Eagles | 37/41 |
17/20 | |
17/20 | |
16/20 |
Hurts picked up six of his 10 rushing first downs in the Eagles' 38-35 Super LVII loss via the quarterback sneak, including the game's first touchdown below.
The inevitability of this play has led many, including Dean Blandino, a football rules expert for Fox Sports and The 33rd Team who served as the NFL's vice president of officiating from 2013-17, to believe that the league's competition committee is not going to allow this version of the Eagles' quarterback sneak to continue to be run.
"I think the league is going to look at this, and I'd be shocked if they don't make a change," Blandino said, via The33rdTeam.
Pushing a ball carrier forward has been legal in the NFL since 2005 and in college football since 2013. However, the 2022 Eagles became the first team to fully capitalize on this rule. The NFL's competition committee will meet at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis at the end of February -- as well as in late March for the league's owners meeting in Phoenix -- with this rule expected to be a topic on the docket. Until the rule is altered, the Eagles and others will continue to take advantage. There were an NFL record 308 quarterback sneaks called by the league's 32 teams this season, and teams averaged a first-down conversion on 83% of them, the highest mark dating back to Pro Football Focus' inception in 2006. That's a far cry from the 2016 season, when the play was called fewer than 100 times.
"I was talking to [Denver Broncos head coach] Sean Payton during Sunday's game [the Super Bowl], and he said 'we're going to do this every time next season if they don't take it out,'" Blandino said. "It amounts to a rugby scrum. The NFL wants to showcase the athleticism and skill of our athletes. This is just not a skillful play. This is just a tactic that is not an aesthetically pleasing play, and I think the competition committee is going to take a look at it."
The competition committee can let it the rule remain as is, which would seem unlikely to occur, recommend getting rid of the ability to push the ball carrier on quarterback sneaks, or make it illegal to push a ball carrier forward on any play.
"[Outlawing it] on sneaks is easy,'' Blandino said. "The downfield stuff, you just put the tape together, show it to the officials and you just start calling it. That's the key. To desensitize it, you've got to throw flags. I don't think it will be a major issue."
The next couple months of the offseason will reveal exactly how big of an issue the league's owners deem the rugby scrum quarterback sneak play to be.