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 Green Bay Packers' loss to the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field. Here's how he did.
Best
Brady was letting the criticism fly from the booth this week, much to the chagrin of whatever handlers FOX has in place to make sure he isn't going to get fined by the NFL. But over the course of the game he was especially harsh on young Packers quarterback Jordan Love, in only his second full season as a starter in the NFL. Brady regularly questioned the decision-making of the signal-caller when he tried to do too much— which was the case all afternoon.
Most importantly Brady did a great job, by and large, of communicating what he was seeing to the viewers. The below audio clip is his take on Love throwing an incomplete pass while trying and failing to create something out of nothing, down 24-6 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Everybody knows an incomplete pass is not what the offense wants in that spot but Brady gives a quality explanation of the context of the moment and why Love's process wasn't optimal. It added value to the moment and was interesting to hear him explain. That's the sweet spot and Brady hit it more often than not yesterday when it came to Love's play.
Tom Brady's analysis of Jordan Love's decision making is very astute pic.twitter.com/X9IVdK8cbG
— Grant Bilse (@WiscoGrant) November 4, 2024
Bad
Uh oh, Tom Brady called out the officials! In our first example of a potential conflict of interest Brady openly disagreed with the referees' decision to eject Brian Branch in the first half of the Lions' win. He didn't go too hard at them, but he did say that he didn't "love" the call.
So much for Tom Brady not being allowed to criticize NFL refs…..
— Pats Buzz (@PatsBuzz) November 3, 2024
Clearly disagreed with that ejection. https://t.co/EZbjFwlvG7 pic.twitter.com/tBzC6BnTDf
This apparently wasn't enough to get Brady into any trouble; Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports reported on Monday that the NFL took zero issue with his comments.
You may be confused as to why this is in the Bad section of the column. That's because he got away with it. It would have been worse for FOX but far more interesting to see Brady get chastised or even penalized for this and then have to dance around any suggestion he disagrees with what he's seeing for the rest of the year. Or maybe Brady would be motivated to blow past the guardrails in that case, which would also be interesting.
But if the NFL is fine with him lightly criticizing officiating then that'll be the status quo going forward— light criticism. Which doesn't add much to the broadcast. Brady is supposed to be opinionated and the above clip is maybe by definition what that means but not in the spirit of a true analyst and that's the standard he's held to.
In other words, all the rules Brady accepted could have added a different element to all his broadcasts. Instead, if he's going to get away with the above but not much more, that doesn't make him any different than an analyst afraid or unwilling to voice his true thoughts. And that is not good broadcasting.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Best & Worst of Tom Brady in the NFL Broadcast Booth: Week 9.
