A new chapter of tush-push discourse was added to the pile on Sunday.

The Eagles’ signature take on the quarterback sneak was subject to a vote on a potential ban in the offseason and narrowly survived. Since then, more criticisms have been levied against the play, most notably the fact that it is difficult for referees to officiate, with those against the play citing several false starts that Philadelphia has gotten away with on the play.

On Sunday, the officials calling the game between the Giants and Eagles once again struggled to call the play correctly, but in a new way.

With the Eagles driving in a 7–7 game, they came out lined up for a tush push facing fourth-and-1 from just shy of the Giants 10-yard line. Quarterback Jalen Hurts took the snap and pushed forward. While fighting for the first down, Hurts reached the ball forward, and had it ripped out of his hands by Giants’ defender Kayvon Thibodeaux. At some point in the madness, the refs blew the whistle, calling forward progress.

Hurts clearly wasn’t down, and Thibodeaux clearly left the exchange with possession, but because the refs had ruled forward progress—which cannot be challenged—the Eagles were able to retain possession.

Giants coach Brian Daboll was understandably furious, and despite having it explained that he could not challenge the aspect of the play he likely wanted to challenge, threw the flag anyways and lost a timeout and a review in the process.

It’s easy to see why Daboll was so incensed.

Online, fans and media alike empathized with the Giants after their bad break, with blame being split between the play itself and the officials calling it.

On one hand, it’s not the Eagles’ job to officiate themselves on the play. The line between “the play is hard to officiate,” and “the refs need to do their jobs” is pretty subjective. That said, it feels at this point that the Eagles have earned a sense of inevitability among referees, so that when in doubt, the call is just “first down, Philadelphia.”

For more on this story, tune in to every ESPN debate show tomorrow morning.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Fans Furious After Eagles Get Bailed Out by Refs on Tush Push Fumble vs. Giants.

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