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Commanders receive unprecedented warning from referee Shawn Hochuli on Eagles tush push

FaceProfileby:Thomas Goldkamp•01/26/25
Commanders_250126_001_StreicherBill_USAT
Photo by Bill Streicher / USA TODAY Sports

A bizarre set of circumstances led to a little-known rule being outlined in the NFC Championship Game between the Washington Commanders and the Philadelphia Eagles.

After running back Saquon Barkley carried the ball down inside the 2-yard line, Philadelphia set up to run its now famous “tush push.”

The Commanders, in an attempt to stop the play from scoring, went about things in an interesting fashion. Linebacker Frankie Luvu crashed the play hard trying to anticipate the snap count, launching over the line and hitting quarterback Jalen Hurts.

He did it once, and the penalty was awarded for half the distance to the goal. Then he did it again.

Officials noted that the Commanders had been warned about the behavior.

On the following snap, a different player in the middle of the line jumped early and was penalized for encroachment, the third straight play that the Commanders had been flagged for a pre-snap penalty.

This time, the head referee took an even more stark approach.

“Encroachment, defense No. 93,” Shawn Hochuli said. “Washington has been advised that at some point the referee can award a score if this type of behavior happens again. For now, it’s a replay of second down.”

You can check out the sequence below.

That left plenty of NFL fans, Commanders included, stunned. Officials can just award a touchdown like that? Apparently so.

FOX’s rules expert Mike Pereira joined the broadcast and chimed in.

“Yeah, well it is to keep this (from) happening,” he said. “Deliberate acts like that to prevent a score after a warning, even though it’s two separate people here, can lead to what is called a palpably unfair act. That’s how it’s defined in the book. And you can do, as a referee, whatever you’d like to do.”

Interesting, and certainly a ruling not many NFL fans — Commanders, Eagles or otherwise — were familiar with before today.