Joe Buck Had Strong Message for Tom Brady Critics After Broadcasting Debut

Buck doesn't think highly of those piling on Brady following his first game in the booth.
NFL fans were unimpressed with Brady's first game as a FOX analyst
NFL fans were unimpressed with Brady's first game as a FOX analyst / Scott Galvin-Imagn Images

Tom Brady's first game in the Fox Sports broadcast booth came and went this past weekend. It was a mixed bag, as perhaps should have been expected. Brady was not an instantaneous hit, but nor was he so bad we're left to wonder if FOX made a mistake paying him nearly $400 million to join the network.

Still, there was plenty of criticism floating around after Brady called the Dallas Cowboys' win over the Cleveland Browns, and Joe Buck was having none of it. Appearing on Monday's episode of the Michael Kay Show, Buck said it's "grossly unfair" to dish out judgement on Brady after all of one game.

"I think it's absolutely impossible to grade anybody and say somebody is going to be good, not good after one game," Buck said. "This is a hard job. We all do our piece of it. You have to be able to settle in, know what you need to know. ... It's grossly unfair that everybody wants to weigh in after five seconds. That's not the way it works."

A fair point from the longtime broadcaster. It is going to take Brady a while to settle in and there isn't much to take away from his first-ever game. It wasn't a super-hot start, but with time he'll grow more comfortable and likely get better.

A work in progress, in other words. Buck clearly hopes some will heed his words and give Brady some kind of grace period as he gets through his first broadcasts.


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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.