Moments before Tom Brady called his first game for Fox Sports on Sep. 8, he had an awkward on-air moment with Mike Pereira.
Just as Brady reached out to fist-bump Pereira, the rules analyst turned away—and didn’t see the most famous passing arm in NFL history dangling in mid-air. “Oh, don’t leave me hanging,” pleaded Brady.
That embarrassing moment seemed to presage Brady’s rocky TV performance this season. Yes, he was still Tom Terrific. But his timing and cadence were way off as the rookie struggled to learn the ropes of broadcasting.
Brady admits as much in the first edition of his new 199 newsletter. “It wasn’t until I got in the booth for that first game between the Cowboys and the Browns that I realized how much I still didn’t know and how much more information there is to ingest as a broadcaster.”
Fast forward five months and the seven-time Super Bowl champion is once again the Man in the Arena. The heat is on for Brady to deliver the goods as he calls his first Super Bowl on Sunday.
If Brady has a great day, he shuts up his critics and justifies the monster 10-year, $375 million contract Fox awarded him back in 2022. Make no mistake: Super Bowl LIX will be the call viewers remember. Acing his final exam will take pressure off Brady for year two of his broadcast career.
But if Brady screws the pooch in front of 120 million TV viewers, the hits will come fast and furious. His critics will melt social media. Fox management will be ripped for handing an inexperienced Brady the No. 1 job over Greg Olsen—who drew rave reviews calling the last high-stakes Chiefs-Eagles showdown at Super Bowl LVIII only two years ago.
On the plus side, Brady will have a great team around him with Pereira, play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, and sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi. This group will be calling their fifth Eagles game this season. Plus, Brady knows Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Andy Reid. The longtime QB seems to be rounding into form at the right moment. I think his calls of the NFC Divisional playoff and NFC Championship games were his best of the season.
On the negative side, Brady remains a TV rookie learning his way. He doesn’t have a great voice. Even after preparing for a year, Brady admits his senses were “assaulted” the first time he stepped into the broadcast booth for Cowboys-Browns. Imagine the pressure on Super Sunday.
“It was too much, too quickly, too soon, to process into clear, effortless, fluid language,” he writes in 199. “The god’s honest truth is that, like with anything complicated, the key to comfort and competence is just more reps.”
Brady won seven out of his record 10 Super Bowls as QB of the Patriots and Buccaneers. But his 11th Super Bowl will be won or lost in the broadcast booth; not on the field.
The Super Bowl is not just another telecast. Everything about the day is different from the extended pregame, extra-long halftime, four-hour time length and audience of 100 million-plus viewers. Brady himself compared it to playing two games, the first and second halves, during an interview with Colin Cowherd.
To get a read on his prospects, I interviewed several sports media veterans who have experienced the privilege—and pressure—of calling America’s most-watched TV show.
Chris Myers
The veteran broadcaster worked the sidelines for five Super Bowls televised by Fox–including Brady and the Patriots’ historic comeback from a 28-3 deficit against the Falcons during Super Bowl LI in 2017. Myers ended up bruised and battered after fighting his way through the on-field mob to an exhausted Brady for a post-game interview.
Myers sat in production meetings with Brady for three Super Bowls. He was struck by his encyclopedic knowledge of the league’s players. Brady brings that work ethic to TV.
“Who else would you rather hear from than a guy who had the Super Bowl success he’s had?” Myers asks.
Meyers’ advice to Brady? “Relax” and let the broadcast come to him. “I think he’ll do fine. I’d be shocked if he doesn’t do well.”
Still the pressure can get to anybody; even Brady after 23 seasons in the NFL. During a pregame interview at his first Super Bowl in 2005, Myers admits he “froze” for a couple of seconds just thinking about the size of the audience he was about to address.
“Troy Brown (of the Patriots) was tapping me with his foot like, ‘Are you going to ask me a question?’” Myers recalls with a laugh.
Bonnie Bernstein
The pioneering sports journalist served as a sideline reporter for the CBS coverage of Super Bowl XXXV between the Ravens and Giants in 2001 as well as Super XXXVIII between Brady’s Patriots and the Panthers in 2004. Yes, Brady is a TV rookie, she says. On the other hand, nobody is more familiar with the pacing and rhythm of Super Sunday than Brady.
“It’s advantageous for him that he knows what the day is like. A lot of people calling their first Super Bowl have not played in ten, won seven, and have not been accustomed to performing, whatever their job responsibility is, in front of 100 million people. Clearly, Tom Brady can do that with his eyes closed,” notes Bernstein.
“He knows how to prepare. He loves preparation more than anybody out there. And he’s got two full weeks to do it. The one thing that I wonder is how the restrictions, due to his Raiders ownership, potentially impact his ability to gather the sort of insights that we get when we’re in production meetings and attending practices. Now those restrictions don’t preclude him from picking up the phone and calling any one of these guys. I think that’s OK. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s off-lining with players and coaches with whom he has relationships.”
Solomon Wilcots
The former NFL safety worked the Ravens sidelines for CBS during one of the wildest moments in the Big Game’s history: the 34-minute blackout at Super Bowl XLVII 12 years ago in New Orleans.
Given Brady’s status as the game’s greatest winner, Wilcots is bullish on his prospects. Brady will face far less pressure in the booth than he did on the field, according to Wilcots, who worked three Super Bowls for CBS. He has “no doubt” Brady will rise to the moment.
“No one who’s ever called the Super Bowl has had as much experience, and as many moments, as Tom Brady has had in that same game. So I don’t know who’d you’d rather listen to. But I’d rather hear that guy,” says Wilcots.
