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Best & Worst of Tom Brady in the NFL Broadcast Booth: Week 3

Another week in the books for the rookie broadcaster.

Liam McKeone

Brady called the Cowboys-Ravens game in Week 3
Brady called the Cowboys-Ravens game in Week 3 / Sam Hodde/Getty Images

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.

In part due to his status, in part due to the enormity of the contract Fox Sports gave him, and in part because he's replacing a widely-liked analyst in Greg Olsen, every single thing Brady says on FOX broadcasts this season will be broken down and examined to the core. There will be many lengthy columns written to judge the minutiae of Brady's skills as a color commentator. And many people will read them.

But for most, opinions on Brady will come down to a handful of viral clips that circulate on social media platforms over the next 17 weeks 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.

Best

Brady, on the call for the Dallas Cowboys' failed comeback against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, is slowly getting better. He isn't taking giant strides in the booth but there is incremental improvement. And as he grows more comfortable with the headset on, the audience will hear the real Tom Brady begin to leak out.

Such was the case late in the third quarter, when he sounded like he wanted to throw his headset to the ground after watching the Cowboys commit a pre-snap penalty while trying to recover from a 22-point deficit.

This was Brady's most viral clip from the weekend and the only such clip from his first three weeks that slants positive. Plenty of digital ink has been spilled on this very website about the clip, so we'll leave it there except to note that the more authentic Brady is, the better everything will go.

One other clip that stood out: Brady touching upon his 28-3 comeback after the FOX cameras miraculously found a fan randomly wearing a shirt referencing the epic Super Bowl in the stands. Based on his first three weeks Brady is clearly aware of the pitfalls that can come with constantly reminiscing about his own career but even brief glimmers of insight into what the greatest quarterback of all time was thinking during the biggest moments in his career are what FOX is really paying for.

Organic opportunities to do so won't always come up, and it could very quickly get old if he goes overboard. But Brady should pounce when the right moment arises.

Worst

Brady fell into a cliche trap on Lamar Jackson's TD run and heard about it from the fans. Describing the Ravens quarterback as "FAST" isn't exactly insightful. This sequence felt like Brady was truly impressed by how fast Jackson got to the pylon, but instead of finding his own way to describe it he went for the ol' announcer strategy of asking a question he then answers. But he didn't have something prepared about Jackson's speed. So he ended up looking a bit silly.

It's going to happen. These are the lumps to take. It is, however, indicative of the primary criticism of Brady in the booth thus far: a lack of creativity.

Brady's had his moments of insight, but they've come when expected. To borrow from football parlance he isn't operating well out of structure so far. When both the pace of play and Kevin Burkhardt set Brady up, he's good for an interesting piece of analysis or commentary. Otherwise it can get bland, like in this case.

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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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