Greg Olsen won the respect of NFL fans during the Super Bowl on Sunday night, though it may have come at the cost of angering the league and his paymasters at FOX.
Olsen, who has been full-time with the network since 2021, is getting replaced by Tom Brady anyhow. So maybe he’s decided he’s going to just go with his gut and say what he feels while TB12 looms.
While FOX awaits Brady’s grand arrival, Olsen has blossomed into one of the best color analysts in the business and we imagine he will not be out of work very long.
Olsen’s take on the controversial penalty that closed Super Bowl 57 out and brought a boring end to what had been an exciting contest is likely to have endeared him to viewers on the night.
James Bradberry was called for holding JuJu Smith-Schuster while the game was tied at 35 apiece.
Patrick Mahomes overthrew on a 3rd-and-8 but the Chiefs got a fresh set of downs because of the call and were able to run the clock down and win the game with a field goal. The action itself didn’t appear to impede Juju as it was pretty soft, so the general feeling was that the refs should have just let the teams play. Olsen was in agreement.
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“I don’t know. Mike, listen, I think on this stage, I think you let them play. Obviously, Mahomes thought he saw it,” he said, disagreeing with colleague Mike Pereira. “I don’t know; I think you let them play. Finish this thing out. I don’t love that call, Mike.”
There’s no debating there was a holding on the play – heck, Bradberry admitted it himself. However, it’s the inconsistency that has everyone scratching their heads.
Meanwhile, Olsen has also received major plaudits for the job he and Kevin Burkhardt did on Sunday.
