The first start of Tom Brady’s NFL career saw the future seven-time Super Bowl champion complete 13 of 23 pass attempts for 168 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions in a 44-13 New England Patriots victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
Despite the lopsided score, the second-year quarterback was solid but not spectacular. All things considered, it’s hard to imagine that anyone left that game thinking they just witnessed the future GOAT’s debut.
The same could be said about the first game of Brady’s broadcasting career.
In what marked the most highly anticipated television call in football history, Brady made his debut as Fox’s No. 1 analyst during Sunday’s Week 1 matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys. In a game featuring the likes of Myles Garrett, Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons and Amari Cooper, the biggest star in the stadium was in the press box as the three-time NFL MVP called the first game of his 10-year, $375 million contract alongside Kevin Burkhardt.
It’s just one week and despite a preseason’s worth of practice , these things take time. Still, even in Week 1, the NFL waits for no one. And after the first game of his broadcasting career, it would be tough to argue that Fox’s new No. 1 analyst lived up to the hype.
That’s not to say Brady was bad — in fact, despite social media’s sentiments, I would argue he was perfectly serviceable. But unlike his first start for the Patriots 23 years ago, he’s no longer a sixth-round pick expected to game-manage his ways to victory; he’s now the highest-paid player in the league who Fox is counting on to carry it to the Super Bowl.
(To be clear, barring an already-speculated-about return to the playing field , Brady will be in the broadcast booth in New Orleans in February regardless).
Again, Brady was far from horrible and he didn’t make any major blunders — the closest perhaps being when he said “excuse me” after seemingly stumbling over Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah’s name, which led many viewers to believe he had just burped on air . He also stumbled over Lamb’s name early, but that wasn’t the predominant criticism of him. Rather, it was the… very… slow… cadence… in… which… many… of… his… early… sentences… were… spoken… in.
In many ways, it felt like Brady wasn’t providing analysis so much as he was carefully answering questions at a press conference while being teed up by Burkhardt, making sure that none of his answers would create unnecessary distractions for his team. That’s fine when you’re a quarterback; less so when you’re a network’s No. 1 analyst calling one of the biggest games of the week.
Like any broadcaster, Brady clearly had pre-determined points he wanted to make, but even those came off more rehearsed than most analysts’ talking points do. In fact, the 47-year-old was seemingly at his best when he was riffing, with Burkhardt setting him up with simple questions like having him explain the differences between man and zone coverage through the eyes of a quarterback.
Brady didn’t lack excitement, but his enthusiasm isn’t going to be confused with Tony Romo’s anytime soon. Perhaps his best moment came after an ill-advised — but completed — Prescott throw in the second quarter, in which 15-time Pro Bowl selection punctuated his analysis with a “beat ’em, Dak!”
In Brady’s defense, the game didn’t give him much to work with, as the Cowboys dominated an ineffective Browns offense en route to a 33-17 victory. Although one could argue that was also a missed opportunity for the quarterback-turned-broadcaster, who failed to provide much insight into Deshaun Watson’s obvious shortcomings as Cleveland’s quarterback.
If Brady wasn’t critical of Watson’s performance on Sunday, it’s fair to wonder if he’ll ever be hard on underperforming quarterbacks when calling games.
It’s also worth noting that Brady did seem to get more comfortable as the game wore on, and at a minimum, seemed to lose the slow-as-molasses cadence that plagued his early analysis. Still, it seemed clear he was picking his spots and playing the role of game manager, rather than assuming the starring role expected of someone with his salary.
Much like New England’s defense in his first career start, it was Burkhardt who did the heavy lifting on Sunday, as will likely be the case throughout the rest of this season. The veteran play-by-play man knows he’s dealing with a rookie, who despite being one of the most famous people in the world, is hardly comfortable in the broadcast booth just yet.
Brady wasn’t a disaster by any means and considering his legendary work ethic, one would only imagine he’ll only get better from here. But when it comes to first impressions, he also didn’t leave much of one, which can’t be what Fox had in mind when it signed him to a starting quarterback’s salary.
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