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ollieconnolly.bsky.social
Newsletter-er: readoptional.substack.com | Writer: The Guardian | Previously: NFL/CFB Scout; recruiting analyst
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Fangio winning his first Super Bowl while running his scheme of 40 years to absolute max against Mahomes and Reid is *chef’s kiss*. What a coach. www.readoptional.com/p/the-book-o...

Baun should have won DPOTY.

We are on official blowout watch. Chiefs cannot handle the Eagles four-down rush and two receivers cannot get off the line of scrimmage

Absolute makeup call hahahahah

Cooper DeJean absolutely body bagged Kelce on that third down. Completely threw off Mahomes’ eyes. Will be a long night if Kelce cannot get off press on third downs — or if Reid does not find ways to get him into a stick to get him off press

“In one quarter, he uttered some variation of the word ‘juice’ nine times” Enjoyed this by Oliver Connolly for @theguardian.com on Tom Brady’s struggles as Fox’s lead NFL analyst. www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/f...

Trying sneaking to the right… one time

Bills cannot keep Elam on the field here. It’s breaking the entire structure of their defense

Saquon Barkley ALSO being a high level protector — not always in the right place, but all out effort and throws himself into anyone — is just flat-out unfair.

Double A pressures are bamboozling the Eagles new C-LG pairing AND the rest of the line has been calling them out. Not good!

The Eagles check to a one-read, go shot being “Tebow” is chef’s kiss

Saquon has ripped off ANOTHER 60-yard TD, turned a could-be stuff into another touchdown and flattened Bobby Wagner. Just the greatest

Saquon Barkley ALSO being a high level protector — not always in the right place, but all out effort and throws himself into anyone — is just flat-out unfair.

Smart early gameplan from Kliff Kingsbury. Said all week, the best way to offset some of the Eagles’ defensive strengths (rotations on the back-end; Baun moving around the front; the front stemming and moving) is to get into empty. A ton of empty from the Commanders early on

Trent Baalke taking a lot of the (rightful) heat for the Jags mess of a coaching search. But from everything I’ve heard, it’s not just a Baalke problem. It’s a general “these guys don’t have their shit together and don’t want to make the necessary changes”

Liam Coen has been open about not jumping for a HC'ing gig until he's ready. It's not just thinking he can do the job, but having enough connections to build out a staff that will allow him to have success (something that has been downfall of a lot of recent young/first-time HCs)

A mess for the Bucs. Looked/sounded like they had a sneak called that Mayfield bailed out of because the Commanders pinched their front. He hit a "we're good" and flashed a signal to Irving to toggle to a run play. The count should have been automatically switched; Barton snapped on first sound

Zyn Baker is like a top-three must-watch athlete

One thing I noted in our Bucs-Commies playoff preview was how Mike Zimmer was able to bust apart a lot of the Commanders' operation by targeting his entire pressure package at Nick Allegreti (LG). Bowles going after Allegreti tonight

Fox are really paying the greatest quarterback to ever play $38 million this year to say: - “wow” - “oh no” - “juice” - “more juice” - “not enough juice” - "Jimmys & Joes" - “that’s playoff football” - “games within games” And he didn’t even have to go to production meetings. GREAT CALL, KB!

QUARTERBACKING!

Mike Vrabel watching Zack Baun knowing he has $130 million in cap space

The Eagles ability to move Baun around the front and stem pre-snap has broken the Packers on early downs. And now he's picked up another game-changing play. He is *the* key cog in the league's best defense. He best receive DPOTY votes

An absolutely baffling no-call on Pat Surtain

Can only imagine the Jets have interviewed Bobby Slowik and Arthur Smith so they can compile a How Not To Run An Offense In 2025 folder together for their new coach

Can only imagine the Jets have interviewed Bobby Slowik and Arthur Smith so they can compile a How Not To Run An Offense In 2025 folder together for their new coach

My Jerod Mayo stock is one of the toughest beatings I’ve ever taken. But this was one of the most embarrassing, incompetent coaching spells we’ve ever seen