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Whether it’s dating the tight end for the reigning Super Bowl champions or being named after a play call that results in a touchdown, Taylor Swift can do no wrong when it comes to the NFL.
Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury revealed on Thursday that tight end Ben Sinnott’s three-yard touchdown catch from Marcus Mariota in the third quarter of a 40-7 win over the Carolina Panthers in Week 7 was on a play called named after the music superstar.
There’s no obvious connection to Swift on the play. It’s a fairly simple route in which Sinnott goes in motion before the snap, fakes like he is going to block the edge defender and turns the corner for a wide-open pass.
If you wanted to try and create a connection between Swift and the play, you could say Sinnott runs into a blank space on the field that Mariota throws to for the easy score.
That sounds like a stretch, but NFL play calls can be weird and will contain a key word that serves as an indicator to everyone on the offense.
During the 2023 season, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had play calls that referenced Tom Brady, Steven Spielberg, karate and booty.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen used “LeBron James” to call an audible during a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars last season that caught the attention of the Los Angeles Lakers star.
It’s more common to have a pop-culture reference of some sort baked into an audible. Peyton Manning made it an art form during his playing days by yelling “Omaha” and it took off so much that he named his production company after it.
Even though Swift wasn’t able to attend the Chiefs’ win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday to see her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, due to being on tour, Kingsbury and the Commanders were able to find a way to keep her top of mind for NFL fans even if we didn’t know it in the moment.
Sadly, Kingsbury’s only chance to break out the “Taylor Swift” play call in front of her would be if the Commanders and Chiefs play in the Super Bowl because the two teams don’t meet in the regular season.
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