Super Bowl champion Eagles' tush push play helps secure 34-27 preseason win over Bengals

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and most of the starting lineup that returned for the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles took a night off.

The tush push is always in play.

Without Hurts behind center, the Eagles used the contentious short-yardage play to success again, beating a potential ban in the offseason, then getting a helpful shove on quarterback Tanner McKee for a score to help Philadelphia beat the Cincinnati Bengals 34-27 on Thursday night in the preseason opener for both teams.

The Eagles wasted no time breaking out the play that narrowly survived banishment to live on in the playbook.

Against a Bengals team that played starters, including QB Joe Burrow and NFL receiving leader Ja'Marr Chase, the Eagles had the crowd buzzing when they assembled in the familiar formation on fourth-and-goal from the Bengals 1-yard-line on their opening drive of the game. The Eagles used their rugby-style scrum to nudge McKee into the end zone for the first — of an expected many, many more — tush push TD of the season.

“Live reps, we don't do a ton of them,” McKee said of the push. “Just getting those types of snaps, technique, coaching points, that's a big thing in what we do.”

The Eagles are bullish on McKee, a sixth-round pick out of Stanford in 2023, and he's firmly entrenched as Hurts' backup. The Eagles let McKee rip — he played into the second half and finished 20 of 25 for 252 yards and touchdown passes to Ainias Smith and Darius Cooper.

Kyle McCord, a sixth-round pick out of Syracuse and raised a diehard Eagles fan, threw a pick-six in his debut in mop-up duty. McCord, from nearby Mount Laurel, New Jersey, led the FBS last season with 4,779 yards passing, a total that broke Deshaun Watson’s Atlantic Coast Conference single-season record.

Burrow got his work in and threw for 123 yards and two touchdowns that included a 38-yard score to Chase.

“We've still got a ways to go,” Burrow said. “But it was a good start. It's just good to play football again. We got 15 reps tonight, so we're 15 reps better.”

The Bengals had long odds to win the Super Bowl, per BETMGM Sportsbook. The betting favorite to win the Lombardi Trophy remained the Eagles.

“This was a team effort in the loss,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor, who then rattled off a lengthy list of mistakes. “I like the fight in our guys. They came back at the end, that I appreciate. But there’s a lot of things we’ve got to fix as a team."

Hurts and Barkley, who topped 2,000 yards rushing last season, were among the scores of starters that coach Nick Sirianni rested. The Eagles' whirlwind offseason included a parade and a White House visit and the page will officially be turned when the championship banner will be raised at Lincoln Financial Field next month in the prime-time season opener.

“It's great to have Jalen on the headset,” Sirianni said.

Better yet, when he's making plays.

Burrow completed a 9-yard pass on the opening drive to Brown and the halfback was pushed out of bounds by a familiar face, his twin brother and Eagles safety Sydney Brown.

The brothers starred in college at Illinois and played against each other last season in an Eagles' win.

“It's a cool opportunity, it's unique,” Sydney Brown said. “I haven't tackled him since I feel like I was 16. It's been a while.”

Hurts turned 27 on Thursday and was gifted a night off.

What to get the Super Bowl MVP who has everything?

Hurts already has a Super Bowl ring after the Eagles’ 40-22 thrashing over Kansas City and one other trip to the Super Bowl on his resume. He signed a contract in 2023 that guaranteed him at least $179.3 million over the life of the deal that expires after the 2028 season.

Hurts had his helmet off and broke into a wide smile when he watched McKee break down the team before the game.

There’s one more preseason game at the Linc and one more chance to see the Eagles in Philly at preseason prices.

Tickets in the 200-level Thursday night were going for about $30-$40 each on the secondary market; in the same ballpark for next week’s second home game against Cleveland. Consider, tickets were priced at $38 each in the second level.

Seem high?

Ticket prices were listed as low as $630 and soared past $1,000 per ticket in the same section for the Sept. 4 season opener against Dallas.

Bengals: Play a Monday night game in Washington on Aug. 18.

Eagles: Host the Browns on Aug. 16. The teams will hold joint practices next week.

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Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Ainias Smith (82) scores a touchdown during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Darius Cooper (41) scores a touchdown in front of Cincinnati Bengals safety Tycen Anderson (26) during the first half of an NFL preseason football game Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tanner Hudson (87) reacts after an extra point following his touchdown during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Tanner McKee (16) scores a touchdown on a tush push play during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Ty Robinson (95) pressures Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning (6) during the second half of an NFL preseason football game Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Tanner McKee (16) runs with the ball during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to meet Thursday at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by then-President Nicolás Maduro before the United States captured him in an audacious military raid this month.

Less than two weeks after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges, Trump will host the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Machado, having already dismissed her credibility to run Venezuela and raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in the country.

“She’s a very nice woman,” Trump told Reuters in an interview about Machado. “I’ve seen her on television. I think we’re just going to talk basics.”

The meeting comes as Trump and his top advisers have signaled their willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and along with others in the deposed leader's inner circle remain in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

Rodríguez herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move reportedly made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump told reporters. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

In endorsing Rodríguez, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela. She had sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key advisers like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a political gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government. She also intends to have a meeting in the Senate on Thursday afternoon.

Despite her alliance with Republicans, Trump was quick to snub her following Maduro’s capture. Just hours afterward, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump coveted. She has since thanked Trump and offered to share the prize with him, a move that has been rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)