SI

Highlights and Lowlights From NFL Media in Week 4

Fox gets its money's worth with Tom Brady, Mike Tirico shines and the team networks need to feed us.

Jimmy Traina

Tom Brady and Mike Tirico had notable broadcasts, while Fox missed out on not having Jayden Daniels airing in more places on Sunday.
Tom Brady and Mike Tirico had notable broadcasts, while Fox missed out on not having Jayden Daniels airing in more places on Sunday. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images/Kirby Lee-Imagn Images/Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

1. I watched a full day of football on Sunday and have some things to say.

• When Fox paid Tom Brady $375 million, the network made it clear it wasn’t bringing on the GOAT just to call games. Clearly, Fox is working hard to get a return on its investment. Not only does Fox air promos centered around the game Brady is calling that week, but it’s also using him on the game, after the game and before the game.

On Sunday, Fox hit the jackpot twice with Brady. He revealed that the Bears were a strong contender for his services before he decided to join the Bucs.

Then, Brady went savage on Baker Mayfield after Mayfield talked about the Bucs not having fun while Brady was their quarterback.

And in a perfect illustration of what sports media is like in 2024, after Mayfield talked about bringing fun back to the Bucs, and after Brady said he wasn’t running a daycare center, Brady interviewed Mayfield after the Bucs beat the Eagles.

• I understand why there would be appeal to Fox in reportedly having Brady call this week’s Dolphins-Patriots game, but I hate it. After four weeks of the season, we have established which teams are unwatchable. The Patriots and the Dolphins (without Tua Tagovailoa) are in that group. I don’t understand why anyone who isn’t a Patriots fan would watch this game on Sunday.

I get the thinking for Fox. This is a rare time when the network has the Patriots this season and it can turn the game into a three-hour Tom Brady show. But Brady should not be calling this game.

What saves Fox a little bit here is its slate of games next Sunday is absolutely atrocious. There isn’t an obvious game for Brady to do. Fox’s games are as follows: Carolina at Chicago. Washington at Cleveland. Las Vegas at Denver. Arizona at San Francisco.

If I’m Fox, I move Kevin Burkhardt and Brady off of Miami-New England and put him on Cardinals-Niners.

UPDATE: Early Monday afternoon, Fox announced that Brady and Burkhardt will indeed call the Cardinals-Niners game and not Dolphins Patriots.

• I’d even be tempted to put Brady on Commanders-Browns. While Cleveland is one of the more unwatchable teams in the NFL, I’d be interested in hearing Brady do a Jayden Daniels game. The rookie QB is one of the biggest stories of the season so far.

Fox and CBS better start giving Washington better game broadcasters, because the Commanders have are in the top five of most fun teams to watch in the NFL.

Here in New York on Sunday, Fox made an awful mistake by giving us Patriots-Niners in the 4:25 p.m. window over Washington-Arizona.

Because of Daniels, Washington will be a team you see flexed into spots later this season.

• Mike Tirico is the perfect play-by-play person for NBC’s Sunday Night Football. He just has the perfect tone and personality for that game. If you’re an NFL nut like me and you spend 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. watching all the games, you’re actually a little worn down by 8:20 p.m. You need a light, easy listen. Tirico is just that and it works perfectly.

Also, his call of Derrick Henry’s 87-yard touchdown run was awesome.

• I’m fully aware that it airs on ESPN+, but I really wish NFL Primetime, with Chris Berman and Booger McFarland, aired on regular ESPN and not a streaming service.

There was a decent amount of time Sunday between the end of the late games and the start of Sunday Night Football. It hit me in that window when I wanted to see some highlights and get a recap of the day that I would’ve loved to flip on ESPN and watch a little Primetime.

• Bashing Tony Romo on Twitter has been the thing to do for a couple of years now, but if you watched the Chiefs-Chargers game, Romo is still outstanding at X’s and O’s and telling you what happened after a play. He was all over how Kansas City’s defense stifled Los Angeles play after play.

Kudos to Romo and Jim Nantz for also being self-aware and having some fun with Frank Caliendo’s impression of them.

• I wish the NFL had flex for every game on every network starting in Week 1, because we, as a nation, should not be subjected to tonight’s Titans-Dolphins game. The only positive is that ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky will be in the booth for that game and he’s excellent as a game analyst.

2. This is the best thing I’ve seen on an NFL pregame show in ages. The Fox NFL Sunday crew pranked Rob Gronkowski last year and aired the footage on Sunday. I don’t want to give you spoilers. If you haven’t seen it yet, just watch and enjoy.

3. The Mets and Braves will play a doubleheader this afternoon to determine the final three NL wild-card teams. In quite a fascinating twist, if the Braves and Mets split the double dip, they will both make the playoffs and the Diamondbacks will be eliminated. This made for some amusing social media reaction.


Because a split would help both teams, many people on Twitter have acknowledged the pro wrestling aspect of all this.

4. Here are ESPN’s broadcasters for the MLB Wild Card series.

• Tigers-Astros: Michael Kay, Todd Frazier, Tim Kurkjian
• Royals-Orioles: Sean McDonough, Jessica Mendoza, Ben McDonald
• TBD-Padres: Karl Ravech, David Cone, Eduardo Perez
• TBD-Brewers: Jon Sciambi, Doug Glanville

5. The Texans were 5.5- or 6-point favorites against the Jaguars yesterday, depending on when you bet the game.

On the final play of the game, with Houston up 4, the Jaguars did a bunch of laterals that appeared to end in a safety. However, the refs somehow ruled the ball carrier down at the 1-yard line. Something ain't right here.

6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with ESPN’s top MLB insider, Jeff Passan.

Passan discusses the recent retirement of Adrian Wojnaroswki and what the life of an insider is like. Does he bring his phone into the shower? Does he break stories from the toilet? Where was the oddest place he’s broken news?

Passan also talks about Major League Baseball’s popularity problem, MLB’s TV issues and what three things he’d do if he were commissioner for a day.

Passan also shares the story of getting The Rock to leave his outgoing answering machine message while in college and the story of getting seriously injured by a tree limb.

Following Passan, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. In this week’s segment, I read recent Apple reviews for SI Media With Jimmy Traina, and we discuss The Bear and the Pine Barrens episode of The Sopranos, Chiefs running back Carson Steele missing his sister’s wedding because she scheduled it when he had a game, John Sterling returning to the Yankees, and much more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: In honor of Monday Night Football tonight, let’s remember the time ABC got all racy with its intro to a game in 2004. Back then, something like this wasn’t that big of a deal, but it did cause some blowback. Today, everyone would lose their minds.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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