UKHTTW Q&A with Mark Bullock NFL Analyst

For the latest blog from UKHTTW, we catch up with NFL analyst Mark Bullock.

The majority of Washington Football Team fans will be aware of Mark and his fantastic work with The Athletic, Washington Post and Redskins Capital Connection to name but a few, and it is a real honour to feature Mark on the UKHTTW website.

UKHTTW: Mark, I always get the impression that you are more than just an analyst and live and breath the burgundy & gold with the rest of the fanbase. I am going to assume that you are a huge fan of the team as well as covering the analytical side of the WFT?

Mark: I certainly was a fan of the team before I started writing about them.

When I started blogging back on Hogs Haven, I was a fan blogging about his favourite team. When it turned into more than just a casual blog and actually a career path for me, I tried to shake off the fandom a tad.

It's a little bit more professional to be an unbiased neutral rather than a clear fan of one team. That said, I still hope the team is successful, I still would much rather them play well and win games, because it's far more fun for me to cover, watch and write about a good team than a bad one.

Fans are much happier and more willing to engage with things and it's just a much more pleasant experience overall. So I wouldn't necessarily call myself a fan of the team any more, but I was one and I still would like to see them do well.

Perhaps an obvious question, but how did a relatively youthful UK guy get into the more analytical side of the game, and to the extent that you are a go-to for play analysis for the Washington Football Team from both UK and USA media?

I'm not sure I'm the go-to guy, but I appreciate the sentiment.

When I was younger, my dad's job took us over to the US for five years, so I grew up with US sports for a good chunk of my life. We moved back here and I gained more of an interest in our typical sports - football and cricket - but still kept an eye on the US sports.

Sky started to show more and more NFL games on the TV here and then I learned of NFL Game Pass, where I could watch every game, so my interest in the NFL grew from that.

As for the analytical side of things, I'm not really sure where that comes from to be honest. I've always seen sports fans that react negatively to sports when their team has a bad play or a bad game, and they start shouting at the screen or whatever. I was never like that and never liked that approach.

Instead of getting angry, I was always intrigued as to why certain things happened and would watch things back to try and figure out what went wrong or right.

With football, it was different because the game is constantly going, but with the NFL each individual play is an event and so it was natural for me to take each play and watch it back to see what really happened. As I did that, I learned more about the game, and I followed some really good writers that I learned a ton from too.

This might be controversial, but I find the NFL UK Twitter handle and, at times, the Sky Sports coverage, rather basic. Any thoughts on this yourself?

Honestly, I haven't watched much Sky Sports coverage in recent years. I tend to watch on Game Pass whenever possible and Washington has rarely been exclusively on Sky, so I can't really comment on what their coverage has been like in recent years.

In the past, I would agree it was a bit basic, but I understand they're kind of forced to be more basic to appeal to any potential new viewers that don't understand the game. Hopefully as the NFL continues to grow over here, they can get a bit more in depth, but perhaps it's at that point now and I've just not seen it in a while.

For those relative novices who wish to get a bit deeper into NFL play by play analysis, what would you recommend as a good starting point?

There's plenty of online resources if you google hard enough.

Lots of good books too, I always recommend the Smart Football books by Chris Brown and the Take Your Eye Off The Ball series by Pat Kirwin, those two were excellent for me when I was starting out, but there's hundreds more.

Read as much as you can, watch as much as you can and watch different teams to understand what works and what doesn't.

Washington has exceeded expectation in Rivera’s first year as a Head Coach in D.C. with low-key but high return FAs such as Logan Thomas and J D McKissic. As an analyst, were you excited about the FA acquisitions and, therefore, are perhaps less surprised than the rest of us with their successful regular season?

I really enjoyed watching McKissic and always thought there was a clear role for him, especially after having studied Turner's offense a few months earlier.

Thomas has been a surprise, I didn't really expect much from him if I'm honest. He's developed far better than I expected and while he still has a ceiling for how good he can be, he's become a valuable piece within the offense.

He's not someone that can win consistently against man coverage with his athleticism and route running, but he's smart, understands how to find holes in zone coverages and has pretty reliable hands, which make him effective in this system. He's also developing as a blocker, which makes him a more rounded player.

And lastly, no pressure, but give us WFT fans hope with three key areas that you feel might end in an upset victory vs Tom Brady and co?

I'm not really optimistic about this one. Obviously the big key is Washington's defensive line getting to Tom Brady.

Brady isn't a mobile guy and has had some struggles against defenses that can get pressure with just the front four. But Tampa Bay has one of the league's best offensive lines, so even with Washington's defensive line talent, it won't be easy for them to get home.

If they struggle, I can see that group of receivers for the Bucs causing Washington issues. But as Alex Smith has always said, you just have to punch your ticket to the dance and once you're there, you never know what can happen.

Maybe Chase Young finds another level during the playoffs and turns the game on its head.

Thank you Mark for taking time out for this Q&A, and if do not already do so on Twitter, please do ensure to follow Mark for excellent NFL analysis on the Washington Football Team