Just like he did during his NFL career, Tom Brady has largely kept a low profile this season as a Fox broadcaster. The network has restricted him and play-by-play partner Kevin Burkhardt from doing interviews, and aside from a few appearances on Fox NFL Sunday and The Herd, we primarily hear from the seven-time Super Bowl champion only in the booth.
However, that changed on Friday when, in his new newsletter “199,” Brady opened up about his first season calling games for the NFL on Fox, describing it as the “most invigorating challenge” of his career. Overall, Brady seems to enjoy broadcasting precisely because he’s not yet a master at it. He shared that his first call in Game 1 felt like an assault on his senses, prompting him to question his command of the English language. As the season has progressed, he has learned critical lessons on how to manage time, assess success, and pace himself. “If an NFL playbook is a Mount Everest of information, a single NFL broadcast is the entire Himalayan mountain chain—there isn’t enough time, energy or oxygen to cover it all,” he noted, emphasizing the excitement of the challenge: “figuring out how to clearly communicate as much valuable information as possible in the short window between snaps.”
The ever-confident Brady even acknowledged to his critics that he initially struggled with his analysis due to the overwhelming environment. “All of the information that was assaulting my senses every forty seconds had the effect of separating my mind from my mouth,” he reflected. “It was too much, too quickly, too soon, to process into clear, effortless, fluid language.” He further stated that evaluating success has posed the biggest challenge transitioning from the field to the booth, as, unlike wins, losses, and rings, viewership and ratings numbers provide limited insight.
While he doesn’t explicitly mention it, one can only assume that the constant scrutiny and criticism from sites like Awful Announcing have made it tougher for him to identify his better moments throughout the season. Nevertheless, as he heads toward his first Super Bowl call in New Orleans on Feb. 9, Brady is clearly improving and has gained valuable insights.
