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For Brady to truly progress, he first needs to get comfortable in the booth.
My reaction to Tom Brady’s debut as an NFL commentator on Fox on Sunday was so extremely negative that I’m surprised no one has messaged me to suggest that it’s finally time for Drew Bledsoe to take over his job.
But the overall sentiment was expressed in the same sarcastic tone. One emailer signed his letter “JC,” eliciting laughter.
“If potatoes could talk, they’d sound like Tom Brady,” he wrote.
Suffice it to say, the seven-time Super Bowl champion and $375 million-a-year Fox salary man who replaced the excellent Greg Olsen with Kevin Burkhart on the network’s No. 1 team hasn’t been an instant sensation with viewers the way CBS’ Tony Romo was seven years ago.
Either way, it’s something nobody expected. As I wrote on Sunday, Brady has become a polarizing figure because of his immense success against many people’s favorite teams who are currently watching on TV.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that many of the people who were criticizing him before the first quarter of the Browns-Cowboys game had made up their minds 10 minutes before the game started.
But when he struggled, and he often did, especially in the early days, they were quick to jump in, ridicule and declare him a failure, and they were so pleased with it that everyone seemed to forget that this was a man with an extraordinary history of improving when doubted and ultimately excelling.
Again, Brady is very good at this. (I didn’t say immediately.)
Let me also say this: He has about 80 more yards to reach the end zone, and he has to get there this year, because the Super Bowl is on FOX. Everything Brady does along the way is preparation for that.
Brady’s strength will ultimately be his ability to instantly identify and articulate what he sees: the strategy, the nuance, the complexity. He missed an opportunity just after halftime to tell the Browns, trailing 20-3, exactly what adjustments they should have made. Instead, he said, “Let’s see if they make adjustments.”
He could predict plays as easily as Romo did early on — Brady alluded multiple times to what the Cowboys and Browns were going to do on Sunday — but he’ll never have the frenetic energy that initially drew people in. His essence will have to be a true insight into what’s going to happen and what happened and why it happened.
For Brady to truly progress, he needs to get comfortable in the booth, and that means he needs to get a better feel for the pace, rhythm and speed of the broadcast — not much different than it felt when he first stepped onto an NFL field as a quarterback.
Burkhart, the ultimate pro, had to nudge Brady to speak up. There were frequent silences as commentators cut in and Brady struggled to find his rhythm. He’d pause every four or five words, as if the words were struggling to come. He didn’t sound like someone who built his broadcasting foundation over 17 scrimmages or two and a half preseason games.
There were some awkward moments early and late in the game, but it ultimately worked out and the Cowboys won, 33 to 17. When Burkhart introduced Brady to the viewers, Brady responded, “It’s been a tough journey, but I’m happy to be your partner.”
It sounded more like a wedding vow renewal than the start of a football broadcast.
In the final minute, Brady seemed unsure how to end the game.
“The season is by no means over for Cleveland,” he said. “There’s still a lot of football left this season.”
Well, sure, Tom, Week 1, even if it’s against the Browns.
Rules commentator Mike Pereira’s failure to notice Brady attempting a fist bump was treated as an awkward moment on social media, but Patriots fans likely got a laugh out of it, considering it’s been a running gag for years of Brady’s teammates not noticing requests for high-fives.
(I suspect some of Brady’s preparation was affected by the restrictions the NFL placed on him on meeting with players and coaches because of the Raiders’ ownership arrangement. That must have made it at least a few levels more difficult, and Brady had few “heard-from-so” anecdotes.)
Maybe not surprisingly, Brady has performed best when he has his pass rushers focused on him, particularly Dallas superstars Micah Parsons and Cleveland’s Myles Garrett.
“He intimidates guys,” he said of Parsons. “It’s not just what you do after the play, it’s what you do before the play.”
And right after Brady surrounded Garrett with the Telestrator, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was under intense pressure and, perhaps sensing the same thing as Brady, threw a pass to Brandin Cooks for an early touchdown.
Brady can be self-deprecating, and just like during his playing days, it was genuine.
“I make mistakes a lot, trust me,” he said late in the fourth quarter. “Ask my friends.”
Comparisons to Brady’s playing career are of course tempting, so here’s another one: His debut resembled an 86-yard passing performance in just his second start in a 30-10 loss to the Dolphins in Week 4 of 2001.
As you may recall, that season ended much like this one did for Fox, with Tom Brady looking much better and much more composed in the Super Bowl.
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