What To Expect From Tom Brady’s Super Bowl Broadcast Debut

Tom Brady is a familiar face around the Super Bowl, though he’ll take in the game from a different spot this year.

Brady will close out his first season as FOX Sports’ No. 1 color commentator alongside play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt with the call of Super Bowl LIX. The Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles battle for a championship on the NFL’s biggest stage where Brady found glory seven times with the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Brady had a tough start in the booth in terms of composure, sentence structure and at times showing too much emotion mid-play with Burkhardt on the call. He’s certainly improved during the season with better-timed energy bursts and excellent descriptions of pre-snap information.

Brady’s been good, but when has just good ever been the standard for the future Hall of Famer? The Super Bowl gives him a chance to rise to the occasion as a No. 1 analyst, especially after leapfrogging qualified voice and former NFL tight end Greg Olsen.

“He’s improved, but he still needs to prove that he’s good enough to be a No. 1 on the Super Bowl (team),” The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand told NESN.com. “The playoffs are really the time you judge these announcers while the audience is more focused. Ultimately to judge the season, he definitely seemed like a fish out of water the first week or so just trying to figure out what he’s supposed to say. I think what’s lost often is most of these players, almost all of them, dream of playing in the Super Bowl. Not calling a Super Bowl.”

Marchand continued: “What might be more instinctual for fans to think about what an announcer should be saying after a play is not necessarily second nature for someone like Brady. I think that was really apparent. He really needs to just trust his eyes and not just get a cue from Burkhardt from his ears about what he’s supposed to say. He’s gotten better at that. He’s gotten a little more comfortable as the season’s gone on. He’s had a couple good games. He’s had some rocky ones.”

Marchand highlighted that just as it did when he was a player, Brady’s preparation will be a strength of his entering Sunday’s championship setting. A quality performance could totally change the perception of his broadcast abilities after the first year of his 10-year deal.

“One thing with Tom Brady you have to figure is he won’t be overwhelmed by the Super Bowl because he played in more than anyone and won more as a quarterback than anyone,” Marchand said. “He might be more nervous in some respects because playing is different than talking and being in front of everybody and he’s not as good at it and not probably as comfortable at it. It could be a little bit of a Catch-22 there for him. I think he’ll be in the moment and be OK with that aspect. The real question for him is is he good enough? He is Tom Brady. He did get the humongous contract. The expectations are almost sort of out of line.”

Nobody had more Super Bowl success as a player than Brady, but he’ll need to focus on composed rhythm in his speaking points, maximize his experience in the game, highlight key moments and show his personality to the best of his ability.

“I’m not going to predict how he’ll do,”Marchand said. “I never do that because I think you have to give people a chance to see what they’ll do, not what you think they’ll do. That’s clear for my purposes in terms of judgment. I just think the big thing is he might be more nervous than when he was going to play a Super Bowl, but I don’t think he’ll be overwhelmed by the moment.”

Brady and Burkhardt, alongside sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi, have the call Sunday on FOX from Caesars Superdome at 6:30 p.m. ET.