When Eagles center Jason Kelce was called for a false start just before his team appeared poised to make a simple “tush push” on first down, there were many complaints that it was a poor decision. But after the game, Kelce expressed no such complaints.
Kelce said he was warned many times not to move the ball forward before hitting it, and this time the officials stopped the warnings and threw the flag.
“They’ve been warning me about this for years,” Kelce said. “I've had a tendency to do that in the past, so they definitely warned me before. I have to be smarter, especially in this situation.”
Kelce said that the officials wouldn't allow him to move the ball forward since it was a third down because that essentially meant moving the ball over the line for a gain. Kelce says if it hadn't been such a close call, officials would have skipped it.
“I think if that's a full yard I can gain, probably not that much, but because it was so short, if I move it forward at all it's going to get called and I just have to be smarter about that,” Kelce said .
The penalty was incredibly costly since the Eagles were at the Seahawks' 3-yard line and were probably just a few tush pushes away from a touchdown. After the penalty, they had to settle for a field goal, effectively taking four points away from the Eagles in a game they lost 20-17.