Tom Brady is no stranger to being roasted. However, unlike on his famed Netflix special, not nearly as many people are laughing after this one.
The future 1st ballot Hall of Famer had his broadcast debut as an NFL color analyst on Fox on Sunday, as he and play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt announced the Browns-Cowboys game in Cleveland.
“You’re a broadcaster! How about that,” Burkhardt said after introducing the 7-time Super Bowl winner to the audience.
“We’re here,” Brady responded.”It’s been quite a journey. I’m excited to be your partner.”
During the first half, Brady seemed hesitant to speak. Burkhardt seemed to elongate some of his commentary and even venture into color analysis in an effort to fill the dead air. Brdy did seem to come alive as the game wore on, however. Dallas’ relentless pass rush and pressure on Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson seemed to trigger enough memories for Brady to begin offering insight into the game more frequently.
Still, it was evident to all that Brady was having his first day on the job.
Comments on X were pretty unforgiving.
Pretty brutal.
Was it that bad? Hardly. Imagine knowing everything about your subject matter and then having to explain it to morons in tight 13-second soundbites while trying to make it sound interesting. That’s essentially the challenge Brady is facing. He knows – intimately and intricately – everything about football. But how do you distill that down and make it intelligible for morons?
It sounds like it should be easy to do, but it’s not.
Brady must figure out how to simplify his tremendous knowledge of the game into bite-size portions that people can digest and understand.
Will he do that?
If he takes his new job as seriously as he took his last one, he definitely will. Brady’s work ethic and relentless pursuit of excellence are legendary. Should he apply that same determination, he’ll be legendary in the booth as well.
If he doesn’t? Then he’ll complete his contract with Fox and move on to making movies, selling supplements, or whatever he wants to do,
However, he will hear and listen to the criticism, and it’s a safe bet he will make weekly improvements and get a lot better.
