Tom Brady plays it safe and shows potential in his $375 million NFL debut for Fox

Tom Brady experienced ups and downs in his highly anticipated debut as a host on Fox Sports.

Fox signed Brady to a 10-year, $375 million contract over two years ago, and the sports world waited with bated breath to see what he would do in the locker room.

The game ended in a flop, with the Cowboys winning 33-17 and the contest essentially over by halftime, so we’ll have to wait at least another week to see how Brady handles the really big moments.

Television networks value the aura of former players and coaches who had Hall of Fame careers and won titles.

Fox in particular places great emphasis on its NFL analysts, with former co-commentators such as John Madden and Troy Aikman as well as active studio talents Terry Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson, Howie Long, Rob Gronkowski and Michael Strahan.

Brady is the most successful quarterback in NFL history and brings it in abundance, having won seven Super Bowl championships with the Patriots and Buccaneers.

When Fox switched to him and his game commentator Kevin Burkhardt before the game to introduce him, it immediately felt like a big game.

Brady seemed intent on letting the game breathe, heeding the advice of Phil Simms, the former top CBS analyst and Giants star who told The Washington Post last week that no one has ever complained about a commentator who doesn’t talk enough.

At key moments, Brady paused to let the audience hear the reaction of the crowd at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland before he made his point. Crucially, he finished his thoughts precisely and passed the proverbial baton back to Burkhardt before it was time to call new plays.

Brady made a warm impression – he had a graceful tone and managed to balance his enthusiasm for what was happening on the field with his calm and relaxed demeanor.

He had a sense of humor and chided the Browns’ star pass rusher, Myles Garrett, for going offside in the second quarter.

“You don’t have to go that far – you’ve already beaten everyone else with your little sprint,” Brady said with a grin.

He was at his strongest when he spoke firsthand about the “mental gymnastics” that Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer performed with the quarterbacks while Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was confused and pressured all game by a relentless pass rush.

One area where he could clearly improve was that he often paused mid-sentence to collect his thoughts. The most fluent broadcasters speak in perfectly crafted paragraphs, with pauses impeccably tied to punctuation, like a newsreader reading from a script.

Brady seemed to play dead in the sense that he knew people were waiting for excessive criticism from him, but he never pulled out the sharp knives for the Browns players or coaches when they were getting beaten up.

He could have been much tougher on Watson, who the Browns paid $230 million guaranteed after trading three first-round picks to get him from the Texans in 2022.

If Brady had completed 24 of 45 passes for 169 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions in a 16-point loss in the season opener, you can bet he would have been awfully hard on himself.

Brady also occasionally resorted to commentator cliches. On one play where the Browns lost ground, he remarked that it was harder to move forward once you had taken a step back.

Brady began his career as a commentator under considerable pressure, not only because of his pedigree and record salary, but also because he replaced Greg Olsen as Fox’s top analyst. Olsen, who was demoted to the second commentary team, had excelled in the role since replacing Troy Aikman in 2022.

While many industry observers argue that commentators have no impact on ratings, there was one crew at Fox – Madden and Pat Summerall – that stood out over the years, with fans sticking around to hear them even in defeat.

The network is hoping that Brady’s pedigree and high Q-score can give them a little boost among casual viewers in games like Sunday’s squash match.