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Tush push could play a prominent role in the Super Bowl if championship Sunday was any indication

If the conference championships are any indication, some of the highest drama in the Super Bowl in New Orleans in two weeks could come on the tush push perfected by the Philadelphia Eagles and decrypted by the Kansas City Chiefs.
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FILE - Washington Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu (4) leaps over the line of scrimmage early towards Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) resulting in a penalty during the NFC Championship NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Daniel Kucin Jr., File)

If the conference championships are any indication, some of the highest drama in the Super Bowl in New Orleans in two weeks could come on the tush push perfected by the Philadelphia Eagles and decrypted by the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Eagles (17-3) are so adept at their vaunted short-yardage plays that the Commanders committed four penalties with Jalen Hurts & Co. at or inside the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter of Philadelphia's 55-23 rout of Washington on Sunday.

Kansas City's 32-29 squeaker over Buffalo that sent the Chiefs (17-2) to their third consecutive Super Bowl turned early in the fourth quarter when they stuffed Bills quarterback Josh Allen — or did they? — on fourth-and-inches at midfield while trailing by a point.

Although it initially appeared to millions of viewers and at least one official that Allen got the nose of the football across the line, the call on the field was no gain and a turnover on downs, and replay concurred.

In Philadelphia, referee Shawn Hochuli admonished the Commanders to stop their shenanigans or he'd award the Eagles a touchdown via an obscure regulation in the unsportsmanlike conduct section of the NFL's rule book.

Sandwiched around Jonathan Allen lining up in the neutral zone and getting flagged for encroachment, linebacker Frankie Luvu mistimed his jump over both lines for encroachment penalties on successive plays in a desperate attempt to keep the Eagles out of the end zone.

The four flags in a five-play sequence — the Commanders legitimately stopped Hurts once — put the ball within an inch of the goal line, and Hurts finally plowed into the end zone to give Philadelphia a three-score lead.

After Luvu's second illegal leap, Hochuli warned Washington that he'd call unsportsmanlike conduct. After Allen jumped offside again on an Eagles hard count, Hochuli had seen enough and, like a scolding parent, announced that referees can indeed award a team a touchdown for repeated penalties.

“Washington has been advised that at some point, the referee can award a score if this type of behavior happens again,” Hochuli said during his in-game announcement.

“Simply put, a team can’t commit multiple fouls in an effort to prevent the score," Hochuli told a pool reporter after the game. "So, No. 4 (Luvu) jumped the ball a couple of times, that was when the warning came in. Again, if it’s meant to prevent a score, we can essentially award the score.”

It's right there in Rule 12, Section 3, Article 2 of the league's rule book. Titled “Fouls To Prevent Score,” it states, “The defense shall not commit successive or repeated fouls to prevent a score.” Further, the rule reads that “if the violation is repeated after a warning, the score involved is awarded to the offensive team.”

The Commanders finally stayed onside, the flags finally stayed tucked into officials' pockets and Hurts finally scored, giving Philly a 41-23 lead.

In Kansas City, where the Bills were eliminated by the Chiefs for the fourth time in five years, Buffalo rallied to take a 22-21 lead and faced a fourth-and-1 at the Kansas City 41 early in the fourth quarter.

Allen was stopped on a sneak even though it appeared one official marked the ball past the line of gain before another placed it short. Replay review upheld the call because there wasn’t clear evidence to overturn it.

“It looked to me like he got to it,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said, “and that’s all I can say.”

CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore agreed, saying on the broadcast, “I felt like he gained it by about a third of the football."

But the Chiefs took over and drove for a go-ahead touchdown.

KC also benefited from a debatable ruling in the first half when Xavier Worthy was credited with a catch when he wrestled the ball away from Bills safety Cole Bishop for a 26-yard gain to the Buffalo 3 even though the ball appeared to hit the ground. The Bills challenged, but the play was upheld and Mahomes then ran in for a score and a 21-10 lead.

Those pair of calls came a week after Kansas City benefited from two roughing-the-passer penalties during a 23-14 victory over Houston and added fuel to the widely held perception among non-Chiefs fans that officials favor the two-time defending Super Bowl champions.

A flag on Kansas City, however, actually came back to bite the Bills on Sunday.

McDermott took an extra point off the board when Chiefs safety Justin Reid was whistled for being offside on the kick. With the ball at the 1, the Bills tried to run it in and the 2-point attempt failed.

That left the Bills trailing 21-16 at halftime and chasing that point the rest of the game. After Buffalo took a 22-21 lead on its first drive of the second half, Allen was sacked on another 2-point try.

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Behind the Call analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL during the season. More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Arnie Stapleton, The Associated Press