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There aren’t many people who understand what Tom Brady was trying to do on Sunday afternoon, but Troy Aikman is one of them. Aikman is the chief analyst for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” and one of the most accomplished co-commentators in the history of NFL television.
But Aikman was also once a Hall of Fame quarterback who moved into sports reporting. In 1998, two years before retiring from the NFL, Aikman worked some NFL Europe broadcasts, which gave him a taste of what it’s like to broadcast NFL games. He played two more seasons before moving into a Fox Sports booth with Dick Stockton and Daryl Johnston, then Fox’s No. 2 team behind Pat Summerall and John Madden. The next year, Fox Sports used a three-man booth with Joe Buck, Cris Collinsworth and Aikman to replace Summerall and Madden. Aikman then joined Buck in a two-man booth, and the rest is NFL broadcast history.
As I watched and listened to Brady as a rookie commentator for Fox Sports alongside Kevin Burkhardt during the Dallas Cowboys’ 33-17 win over the Cleveland Browns, I thought about how many replays Aikman had done compared to Brady before becoming the No. 1 analyst. Aikman learned the mechanics of television before earning the honor of commentating on major NFL games on television.
“Tom comes in like Tony Romo in terms of transitioning from the field to the locker room,” Aikman told me last week. “On the one hand, he had a year off where he could really focus and watch games and listen to the commentators. I know he had practice games, but that’s not how it was done before Tony. I think the success Tony had when he came into the locker room opened the door for a guy like Jason Witten. Now we have Tom Brady. …
“When you’re on live TV and learning the craft, you’re always pressed for time. You never have as much time as you hope and you say things that sometimes don’t make sense. I was sitting in the booth and I thought, ‘Oh my God, that was the dumbest comment ever.'”
On Sunday, Brady seemed like someone trying to learn the craft in real time. That’s not a criticism. It’s just the reality. He spoke live for the first time at 4:23 p.m. ET with the usual scene, and was very deliberate in the first quarter. Everything felt a little slow as he and Burkhardt were still finding a conversational rhythm. Brady got more comfortable as the broadcast went on, and I’d expect that to continue as the season progresses. If you really want me to grade him, I’d give him 2 1/4 out of four. Fox will get that for his first game of the regular season.
If you watched Greg Olsen, Burkhardt’s former partner, all of last year and part of Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Atlanta Falcons game, you can see the difference between someone who is a true No. 1 right now and Brady. Olsen often takes viewers to the secondary, and that’s where Brady will be needed in these first few games. Here’s an example: After Dallas wide receiver Brandin Cooks scored on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Dak Prescott in the first quarter, the broadcast (and Brady in particular) let a few seconds of airtime pass before saying something brief about Prescott’s reaction to a blitz.
“It’s a full-steam blitz,” Brady said. “They bring all six and can only block five of them. Dak knows that and puts the ball in front of Brandin Cooks. He knows the defender has no help at the pylon. Great throw and catch.”
It’s a pretty good commentary, but nothing transformative that makes the viewer a more intelligent football fan, and that should be Brady’s goal. Interestingly, Fox returned to the game after a break and Brady delivered some second-rate stuff.
“Just great, high IQ football here,” Brady said. “Here’s Dak Prescott at the line of scrimmage. He sees the blitz from (Browns defensive coordinator Jim) Schwartz’s defense and changes the play. He lets everybody know, ‘OK, I’m under pressure.’ He signals to the receiver, ‘We’re going to run this three-man combination.’ In fact, they don’t handle the blitz very well. (Browns safety Juan) Thornhill expects the ball to come out quickly. He has no help in the corner and just puts it there for an easy touchdown.”
For me, that was a sign of what Brady could become. And it also underlined Aikman’s point: the lack of time is the hardest adjustment.
Brady became more comfortable as the game got more exciting, and it would be good for him if he wasn’t afraid to show some humor, especially self-deprecating humor, because that helps someone as famous as him build a relationship with the crowd. He did that in the second quarter when Burkhardt joked that he “did his hair really nice” because he expected more standing shots with Brady.
“The more we can do up here to give the fans an experience,” Brady said. That was really funny.
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For Tom Brady and Fox, Sunday was a first step towards a show that really counts
Same thing happened when Brady got excited after a touchdown catch by Jerry Jeudy in the third quarter. When the camera was focused on Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson on the Cleveland sideline, Brady went into a sort of “let’s go” mood.
“That’s the way to respond,” he said. “It gives you some confidence. ‘Hey, coach, we can throw the ball. Let’s open up a little more space. Let’s see what I can do.’ He goes to the sideline to get some confidence and momentum. Good drive by the Browns.” That brings a little personality and life to the broadcast, and he needs to channel a lot more of that.
Brady’s best moments may have been in the fourth quarter, when the game slowly but surely began to stall.
“I played with a coach who wasn’t afraid to call his players names either,” Brady said of former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. He then said some interesting things about accountability and hearing the truth as an NFL player. Any producer will tell you that losing is where production really makes its money.
The Cowboys-Browns game was in most Fox media markets (the only other Fox game at the time was Washington Commanders vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers). The viewership will be huge, and that means feedback from millions on Brady. Everyone will have an opinion.
Richie Zyontz, Fox’s lead NFL producer and one of the best in the business, often tells his commentators to slow down, be precise and project the game forward, and that will be Brady’s goal every week, especially the last part. Just as a young NFL quarterback must learn to slow down the game, Brady must try to master the mechanics of NFL coverage to make a compelling case in a limited amount of time.
He showed enough on Sunday to make me believe he will continue to improve. And he will have to improve because it’s a big year for Fox as they are the Super Bowl commentator this year. Brady also has a good partner in Burkhardt, who did his best throughout the game to guide him to places Brady was comfortable. The crew has the Cowboys again next week (against the New Orleans Saints), and that’s a smart decision by Fox (aside from the obvious reason of showing Cowboys games on its biggest broadcast) because familiarity with the squad will help its most famous commentator.
The debut is done. Further work will follow now.
(Photo: Jason Miller/Getty Images)
