Tom Brady's first season as an NFL broadcaster will be under an incredibly strong microscope. He is Tom Brady, after all. Everything he does is of great interest to the general public. But as the former quarterback knows well, there are no bright lights quite like that of the NFL.
For most, opinions on Brady will come down to a handful of viral clips that circulate on social media platforms over the season and into the playoffs. These clips could be good or bad, but either way they'll inform the larger audience of Brady's current status as an announcer until there are north of 20 million pairs of eyes on him in the postseason.
Here, we'll break down those clips. It will serve as a window into how Brady performed in his most recent appearance and a barometer of his progress as the season goes on.
This week, Brady called the Buffalo Bills' beatdown of the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Here's how he did.
Best
One of the baptisms all NFL broadcasters undergo is going viral for saying something unintentionally funny. Or, at least, delighting fans with a cheeky turn of phrase that didn't really sound like it was supposed to be a joke. On Sunday Brady finally had his turn by telling an audience of millions that Bills quarterback Josh Allen is a "big boy with the big powerful legs and a big powerful caboose." The longtime foe of the Bills went on to compliment Allen on how he utilized his "caboose" to plow over defenders before admitting he wishes he also had a caboose to power his way through quarterback sneaks during his playing days.
Is this actually a Best Of moment in the same vein as previous columns? No. It's not really even a highlight. But Brady had a pretty unremarkable week in the booth otherwise (which is a mark of progress in its own right) and it is honestly a big milestone to hit as far as his cultural impact on NFL fandom. More people engaged with this comment than most of his analysis, good or bad, this season. See below for a sampling.
Tom Brady just said on national television that he wished he had an ass like Josh Allen.
— Z-Bot (@ZbotTweets) October 27, 2024
We’ve come a long way Bills Mafia
Tom Brady wishing he had Josh Allen’s “big powerful caboose” was not on my bingo card today pic.twitter.com/VZO2gZN9uX
— Greg Cover 1 🏈 (@GregTompsett) October 27, 2024
Tom Brady says Josh Allen, “has a big powerful caboose.”
— Bradley Gelber (@BradleyGelber) October 27, 2024
Worst
Brady did talk about Allen in terms not related to his behind during Buffalo's win and his attempt to capture what makes Allen great in one 10-second package didn't go well at all.
In the first quarter, Brady tried to describe the chaotic nature of Allen's play and how far he's come since he came into the league in 2018. Unfortunately he did so quite poorly.
"Sometimes he played like a spaz, like a grade-schooler on a sugar high, but now he’s controlled the chaos. He’s like a storm coming into town and you don’t want that storm coming into this town." - Tom Brady on Josh Allen pic.twitter.com/nSYGezx0vf
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 28, 2024
Beyond his problematic adjective, Brady's description didn't even make sense. Which, to be fair, isn't the first time an analyst fails to capture the chaos theory that is Josh Allen. But given how early it was in the game it seems likely Brady had this pre-planned coming into the broadcast and it's borderline nonsensical. Allen went from an elementary schooler on a sugar high to a storm and, buddy, you don't want that storm in town? It sounds like a meme someone cooked up to make fun of NFL broadcasters. Not a great segment, even if it was more spur-of-the-moment than the circumstances suggest.
A swing and a miss for Brady, and one that may lead to an apology of some sort from the Fox Sports analyst.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Best & Worst of Tom Brady in the NFL Broadcast Booth: Week 8.
