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Podcast: Inside the Patriots' Mac Jones Plan with Ollie Connolly

The exceptional founder of The Read Optional joins the show to dissect the New England Patriots. Bill O'Brien now holds the keys.

Tyler Dunne

Jun 28, 2023

Is there hope for Mac Jones?

This has been somewhat of a forgotten discussion on the national airwaves.

With all the Stefon Diggs drama in Buffalo, Aaron Rodgers heading to the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins loading up for a Super Bowl run of their own, Bill Belichick’s crew has mostly been a footnote in the AFC East. I suppose hiring Matt Patricia and Joe Judge to run your offense can make any NFL franchise congeal.

Then, last week, Ollie Connolly of The Read Optional authored this exceptional story on the direction of the Patriots. You’ll certainly learn more about Bill O’Brien and Mac Jones than you ever knew. ESPN and NFL Network have shelled out a ton of money to film experts over the years. For my money, nobody covers the raw X’s and O’s of the sport better than Ollie.

On this episode of the Go Long Podcast, I chat with the Englishman all about his own roots — how he fell in love with American football across the pond — and his O’Brien deep dive.

We know the Patriots defense is loaded, especially with Matthew Judon still breathing fire.

It’s on O’Brien to solve those issues on offense.

You can access the show everywhere you get your pods with all links and embeds below.

Thanks, everyone.

Tired of the bite-sized memes, gifs and pandering that consumes much of sports media? Go Long will forever cover pro football through a longform, humanizing lens.

We’ll have several longform features to share ahead of this 2023 season and would love to have you join our community:

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This was a home-and-home. I joined Ollie’s podcast right here if you want to check it out. We chatted about the reporting process, Dan Campbell and Zay Jones. Ollie wrote a very detailed piece on Ed Oliver our Western New Yorkers at Go Long will find insightful.

Also… a bonus episode!

Earlier this week, I joined Jim Monos to discuss Zay Jones and which players we believe will enjoy a career renaissance in 2023. Dang right, I’ll stay on that Baker Mayfield hill. It’s still real to me, damnit.