Tom Brady seemed a bit nervous.
That’s right. The man who won seven Super Bowls, earned three league MVP awards and set numerous quarterbacking records during a 23-year NFL career — not to mention sat there and withstood hours of raunchy barbs at his expense during a recent Netflix roast — didn’t completely kill it during his regular-season debut as a color commentator for Fox.
Working with play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt during the Dallas Cowboys-Cleveland Browns Week 1 matchup Sunday, Brady displayed the kind of football knowledge one would expect from the player largely regarded as the sport’s GOAT.
But one game into his 10-year, $375-million contract with Fox, Brady is being criticized for a delivery that seemed somewhat robotic and showing a level of emotion that resembled that shown by former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick during postgame news conferences.
Just before halftime, for example, Dallas kicker Brandon Aubrey lined up to attempt a 71-yard field goal, after having a record-tying 66-yarder negated by a delay-of-game penalty. While Burkhardt marveled at the idea of even attempting a kick from such a distance, Brady commented on how the Cowboys need to be prepared in case the kick comes up short and, after the Browns called timeout, that “maybe everyone’s gonna rethink this one.”
The clip was shown on NFL Network’s “NFL RedZone,” with host Scott Hanson calling out Brady for his apparent lack of enthusiasm.
“Oh, come on,” Hanson said. “Brady’s gotta get more excited than that in the booth.”
On Monday morning, Hanson reposted a clip of his comment, along with an apology to Brady.
“This was unfair & inconsiderate by me,” Hanson wrote. “Yes, I was saying it tongue in cheek — but I didn’t calculate how it may come across. @TomBrady, I apologize. I promise I am rooting you on in this new venture!”
Incidentally, Brady’s analysis of the situation was correct. Dallas actually did rethink the field-goal attempt and instead ended the half with a Dak Prescott pass attempt to the end zone that fell incomplete.
Another awkward moment occurred on camera, when Brady’s attempt at a fist bump with Mike Pereira wasn’t noticed for several seconds by the rules analyst. “Oh, don’t leave me hanging,” joked Brady, who was eventually bumped back by Pereira.
To be fair, Brady didn’t have a lot to work with during his regular-season debut as an NFL announcer. The game itself was a dud, with the Cowboys winning in blowout fashion.
Brady did have his moments, like when he made an apparent reference to Belichick in saying, “I played for a coach that didn’t mind cussing his players out,” then explained why he thought that wasn’t such a bad thing.
“If you want to be a great player, you want to be pushed, you want to be challenged, you want to be criticized,” Brady said.
He added: “I was the beneficiary of a lot of that hard coaching. … Discipline and accountability are mainstays in any successful organization, and I have no problem with any coaches that feel like they need to tell their player the truth, ’cause you just don’t get a lot of truth all the time as an NFL player.”
