Greg Olsen and Joe Davis calling Saints-Eagles on Sept. 22, 2024. Greg Olsen and Joe Davis calling Saints-Eagles on Sept. 22, 2024. (Awful Announcing on X/Twitter.)
FoxNFLBy Andrew Bucholtz on

While the reviews for new Fox No. 1 booth analyst Tom Brady continue to be mixed, the man he replaced continues to get a lot of plaudits. That would be Greg Olsen. The former NFL tight end is in his fourth season as a NFL on Fox analyst, but is now on the No. 2 team with Joe Davis following Brady taking his spot on the lead team alongside Kevin Burkhardt. But he still has quite a few fans out there, as was seen during his call of the Philadelphia Eagles’ dramatic late 15-12 win over the New Orleans Saints Sunday.

That game only saw three points (a Saints’ field goal) through the first three quarters. So that led to a lot of fans focusing on the announcers given the ineffective offenses on the field. And Olsen had some notable moments there, particularly in breaking from his usual advocacy of fourth-down gambles to question a particular fourth-and-three move from Eagles’ head coach Nick Sirianni (which did not work out). Olsen criticized that decision before the play came up short, then went in on it further:

That sparked some comment:

Here’s another moment from this one, from the start of the second half. There, Davis and Olsen discussed how the Eagles have changed from the famed “Tush Push” they had last year that led to them being able to be so aggressive on fourth-and-one or fourth-and-two. In this game, they kept some of that aggression, but Sirianni instead tried different playcalling approaches, such as a deep handoff to running back Saquon Barkley on fourth and one before the half, which was stuffed.

Olsen wasn’t the only critic of Sirianni in this one, with one fan in the stands questioning him rather profanely. And even Ringer founder Bill Simmons said he’d hire Sirianni in three weeks (suggesting the Eagles’ coach would be on the market by then). But it was particularly notable to see Olsen change from his usual stance on fourth downs in this situation, and to see him both disagree with the call before it happened and explain that disagreement after. And it added to what was a pretty strong day from him overall. Here are some of the reviews his work drew:

Interestingly, Sunday set up with a rare chance for much of the country to see Olsen and Brady announcing games back-to-back. Fox had the national doubleheader, and Eagles-Saints was their most-widely-distributed game in the early window. And, for the third straight week, they assigned Brady and Burkhardt to the Dallas Cowboys’ afternoon game (at home against the Baltimore Ravens), and sent that to most of the country. And that led to some people comparing Olsen and Brady:

It will be worth watching how that conversation evolves over the course of the season. But Olsen certainly earned plenty of praise Sunday.

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz