Tom Brady has opened up on his preparations for calling NFL games on FOX ahead of his first full season as a commentator after his unofficial debut in the booth for the UFL Championship.
Appearing on FOX’s ‘Herd with Colin Cowherd’ program on Wednesday, the 46-year-old, seven-time Super Bowl champion revealed his first game jitters as an analyst before the Birmingham Stallions thrashed the San Antonio Brahmas (25-0) last week.
‘I would say yes,’ he replied to a question on whether he noticed the difference between himself practicing his commentary and analysis, and himself live on air. ‘And I also think there’s still so much room for improvement…
‘It’s almost like when I was a player, I never felt like I did things the right way. There were games where I’d go in afterward and thank God [because I’d tell myself] ”I’m the worst quarterback in the NFL. Like why would they even want me to play quarterback for this team?
‘And I’m sure I’m gonna feel that way here at FOX. Right after I finish a game [I tell myself] ”God… I didn’t even give them what they wanted…”
He continued: ‘It’s a very challenging thing in your own mind. I’ve asked a few people ”How do you know that you did a good job?” And I think for me so much of this is going to come down to the preparation and did I feel like I was prepared?
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‘Did I feel like our crew was prepared that I give them the best over the course of the week so that we could give ourselves the best opportunity to be successful for the fans because really the game is the show. Were there to add our take on it and our analysis but it’s also ”Did we feel like we added to the broadcast?”
‘And from my standpoint, I’m going to work as hard as I can… the process of it as you (Cowherd) talked about earlier is to make sure that I do deliver because I don’t want to let anyone down… I don’t want to let the people at FOX down. I certainly don’t want to let the great NFL fans down either.’
Brady will surely remember his debut in the booth alongside FOX’s Curt Menefee and Joel Klatt as he was heavily booed in St Louis, where he and the Patriots caused an upset by defeating the hometown rams in Super Bowl XXXVI (2002) – the first title of New England’s dynasty.
‘The only way I knew how to combat the nerves and the anxiousness of the game was to prepare,’ the five-time Super Bowl MVP said about his early days as an NFL player. ‘So I was someone that got really, really good at my preparation over the course of my career.
‘I got really efficient with my time, especially as you add a lot of other things to your life like children, you know, that’s, that’s a big addition.
So it’s ”How can I prepare?” knowing that I have other things going on in my life and I really want to be efficient with my time to make sure the time I am spending preparing is really worth it.
‘I’m working on the things that are actually going to add to the broadcast rather than just working on things to work on them that will actually never come up.’