Greg Olsen delivered one of the most immediate announcer jinxes of the season Sunday, and he knew it the moment it happened.
Olsen had been searching for the right comparison for Panthers rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan all week leading up to Sunday’s Panthers-Cowboys game, landing on A.J. Green before considering Mike Evans and ultimately deciding McMillan was faster than Evans.
Then, with about two minutes left in the first quarter, McMillan made a catch, and Olsen immediately praised the No. 8 overall pick’s hands, his catch radius, everything that makes him one of the most promising first-year receivers in football.
Not 15 seconds later, Bryce Young went back to McMillan, and the ball bounced off those supposedly great hands right into the waiting arms of Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson for an interception.
“Well, that’s the old announcer’s jinx,” Olsen said immediately after the turnover. “That was almost, you can’t make this up, right? I was just talking about how good he is with the ball, plucking it with his hands. Listen, that’s gonna go down as a pick against Bryce Young. It’s just a drop.”
— The Comeback NFL (@TheComebackNFL) October 13, 2025
To be fair, the praise wasn’t baseless.
To be fair, the praise wasn’t baseless. McMillan entered Sunday still searching for his first career touchdown after five games despite racking up 351 receiving yards, second among all rookies. He’d been productive, just not explosive. The Cowboys’ last-ranked pass defense seemed like the perfect opportunity for that to change, and the pregame hype reflected that optimism.
But after the interception, which Dallas converted into a touchdown to take a 10-3 lead, McMillan had to make up for the mistake. He did exactly that on Carolina’s next drive, hauling in a 19-yard touchdown pass from Young to tie the game 10-10 and finally get into the end zone for the first time in his professional career. He added a second touchdown in the fourth quarter as the Panthers beat the Cowboys 30-27 on a walk-off Ryan Fitzgerald field goal.
At least Olsen had the good sense to laugh at himself instead of pretending it didn’t happen.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.