PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Watching the Eagles do it for years, this offseason, once it was ruled it was still legal in the game, Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said he wanted to prepare the Steelers own short yardage scrum, or ‘tush push’.
It didn’t come together with a quarterback sneaking the ball like in Philly, rather a pair of tight ends playing key roles. Connor Heyward takes the snap under center and then 6’7” Darnell Washington pushing him forward. It debuted Sunday in Ireland for a two-yard gain and a first down on third-and-one.
“We come on the sidelines and Darnell was joking saying ‘I just picked Connor up and put him over the pile’,” said offensive lineman Spencer Anderson.
“He said he tried to grab me and pick me up, but he’s a massive human,” Heyward admitted. “You want him to push you if anybody.”
“We’ve been working on it,” said tight end Pat Freiermuth. “Connor did a great job. It was funny watching over the film, Connor got the snap and Darnell just pushed him forward for a couple of yards. It was funny. It was a great play.”
Heyward was a running back in college along with working at tight end and in high school was a quarterback. Connor said they came to him and it’s something they’ve been working for a little bit, mostly during closed practices to not let it out there. They’ve slowly progressed and are getting better at it. Most importantly for Arthur Smith, he trusted Heyward could pull it off.
The main concern for the fourth-year tight end was getting the snap. Even though he was a high school quarterback, he mostly operated out of the shotgun. So, he went straight to a future Hall of Famer.
“Aaron (Rodgers) taught me how to take the snap the proper way, interlocking your hands with your thumbs, some guys in the league don’t do that but it helps you secure the snap and get the play started,” Connor Heyward said. “That’s what’s most important.”
It’s not the only tight end to do it, Mark Andrews runs a similar play under center with the Ravens. Heyward said he’s gotten a lot of work with center Zach Frazier to make sure it’s on time.
Now they’ve done it once, look for it to happen again. Instead of the ‘tush push’ maybe the Steelers will run the ‘Wash toss’.