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When talking about his broadcast future, Tom Brady pointed to blunt golf analyst Johnny Miller as one of his role models. The seven-time Super Bowl champion vowed he wouldn’t shy away from criticizing bad plays—and bad players.
Miller never shied away from criticizing golf stars who screwed up or choked under pressure. On Sunday, we finally glimpsed the tell-it-like-it-is Tom Brady rather than the milquetoast TV rookie we saw during his disappointing debut.
Along with play-by-play partner Kevin Burkhardt, Brady was more loose, assertive, and entertaining during Fox Sports’ telecast of Cowboys-Saints. I loved his description of the Saints’ dominating scheme against the Cowboys as a “bullyball” and “run through your face” offense.
More importantly, Brady doled out equal doses of criticism and praise. And he wasn’t afraid to call out stars like Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott for bad football.
My favorite Brady call came in the third quarter with the Saints leading 35-16. On first down from the Saints 11-yard line, Prescott missed a wide-open Ezekiel Elliott for a likely touchdown. Brady reverted to his meek Week 1 mode, where he seemed to bite his tongue and refrained from he really wanted to say. But when Prescott fumbled on third down, dropping the Cowboys back into field goal territory, Brady rightly blamed Cowboys quarterback.
“Again, Dak loose with that ball. That first-down play ends up coming up to bite him. It doesn’t all come down to third [down]. You got him open, you got to hit him,” Brady said.
Finally! Welcome to NFL television, Tom.
Brady’s learning that if you want to succeed in the broadcast booth, you have to be willing to criticize the players and coaches who used to be your colleagues. Be honest. Tell viewers what you really see and feel—good and bad. Heap all the praise you want on great players, great coaches, and great schemes. But don’t pull your punches to cover somebody. Accept that you’ve gone over to the “dark side” of the media. Your responsibility now is to your viewers; not players and coaches.
Viewers in and out of the business noticed the difference in Brady. “Just like on the football field, it appears that Brady knows how to make quick adjustments and improve,” noted Awful Announcing. Former NFL scout Ollie Connoly had this to say: “I regret to inform you that Tom Brady is offering good, non-cliched insight in doses today. He sounds comfortable and confident and like he may even be enjoying himself. Who knew: the homicidally competitive guy may wind up being good at this.”
Bingo.
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