No matter how Sundays go these days, Tom Brady knows his Monday mornings will be just fine.
The 47-year-old retired NFL quarterback made his broadcasting debut on Sunday afternoon, helping his new Fox Sports colleague Kevin Burkhardt call the Dallas Cowboys’ 33-17 win over the Cleveland Browns.
Brady’s performance was rocky at times, critics and pundits said. He struggled to find words, and even burped at one point during the first quarter. But he flashed moments of promise at other times, explaining to viewers what it’s like for a quarterback to face a defensive player rushing, and spotting wide-open receivers that even the quarterbacks had missed — a unique perspective only the five-time Super Bowl MVP could bring to the call.
“I’m learning a lot, believe me,” Brady laughed near the end of the game when Burkhardt joked about how he had predicted a low-scoring game before the Cowboys went on to blowout the Browns.
“Well, Tom Brady is even wrong once in a while,” Burkhardt quipped. “How about that?”
As the game was winding down, Burkhardt told Brady he and the rest of their coworkers are “thrilled” to have the retired quarterback in the booth with them this season. “We’re off and running,” he told Brady, asking the seven-time Super Bowl champion how it felt to have the first game under his belt.
“I was using my arm and my body for so many years, and now I get to a stadium and I get to use my voice,” Brady told him. “I might get out there tomorrow morning and throw some passes just to remember what it feels like. But as Michael Strahan told me in the pregame, ‘You’re going to wake up Monday morning and you aren’t going to be sore,’ and that I’m very happy about.”
Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady.
Nick Cammett/Getty
Online, viewers both jeered and cheered Brady in his debut.
“I don’t want to overreact to week 1 but Tom Brady is the worst announcer in the NFL,” one X user posted.
Another user joked: “Tom Brady is to broadcasting as Michael Jordan is to baseball.”
Others poked fun at an moment when Brady went to go fist bump Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira, who was in the booth with him and Burkhardt. Pereira apparently didn’t see Brady’s hand and turned away before bumping him back, leaving Brady awkwardly smiling and holding his arm out to Pereira’s back.
“Aw! Don’t leave me hanging!” Brady joked before turning his attention back to the game.
Fox Sports football analyst Tom Brady (second from left) and play-by-play broadcaster Kevin Burkhardt (third from left) announce during the second half of an NFL football game between the Dallas Cowboys against the Cleveland Browns.
James D. Smith via AP
But as Brady pointed out at one point: “I’m still a rookie in here.”
Brady has a “long road ahead” of him this season, according to Boston Globecolumnist Chad Finn, who wrote that he believes the retired NFL star showed that he’ll be able to hold his own after a few games in the booth.
“I’ll say it again. Brady is going to be very good at this,” Finn wrote.
Although the columnist pointed out that the pressure is on for the retired quarterback, who’s scheduled to call the Super Bowl on Fox at the end of this season. “Everything Brady does along the way is the warm up for that,” he added.
