Tom Brady is no stranger to the Super Bowl, but he was in a peculiar spot for Super Bowl 59: on the mic.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion isn’t playing for the Lombardi Trophy anymore, and called his first title game as an announcer for Fox. There was plenty of build-up for Brady’s debut season as an analyst – which is worth $37.5 million annually for 10 years – and it got off to a shaky start in September. He has admitted it’s been a tough transition, but as the season went on, Brady got better with more experience. It’s been a promising sign since it’s been known ahead of the season Brady would be thrown into the fire, being on television in front of millions of viewers for the grandest sporting event in the U.S.
So how did Brady do calling his first Super Bowl? Here are some of the key moments and reactions from the Fox analyst.
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Tom Brady watch
Brady flexed before the game even started by showing off his glamorous gold watch that reportedly cost more than $700,000.
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Tom Brady uses Super Bowl experience to his advantage
Obviously since Brady has played in so many Super Bowls, he offered plenty of insight into what it was like to play in it, all the way from the preparations hours before kickoff to what to do in between drives and at halftime. The details were some valuable information viewers haven’t really gotten before, especially since Brady’s runs to the big game were so recent and easy to recall.
Too many callbacks
While the insight into what a Super Bowl is like was refreshing, it became overdone after some time. It felt like there were constant reminders Brady has won seven Super Bowls and other references to his playing career.
Disagreement with referees
Brady did not hold back early in the game with his disagreement on an offensive pass interference called on A.J. Brown on a fourth-down play in the first quarter. When he saw a replay of the controversial call, he groaned and said ‘don’t like that one bit.’
‘Just too critical of a game,’ he added.
On the ensuing Eagles drive, it was extended thanks to an unnecessary roughness call on Kansas City’s Trent McDuffie against Philadelphia tight end Dallas Goedert. McDuffie appeared to make contact with Goedert’s head, but Brady didn’t think it was a good call either, and even called back on his tuck rule call.
Noticing body language of Patrick Mahomes
It was like Brady almost spoke a play to existence. With Kansas City down 10-0 and Mahomes sacked on back-to-back plays, Brady said he was looking at Mahomes’ feet and was noticing he didn’t look comfortable with the pass protection. On the next play, Mahomes rolled out and made a costly mistake trying to force a throw with an interception that was returned for a pick-six by rookie Cooper DeJean.
Mahomes’ feet were something Brady looked at during various points when the Chiefs quarterback faced pressure.
Some ‘ooohs’ and ‘ahhhs’
All football fans are guilty of getting excited on potential game-changing plays, but when calling a game, it’s not ideal to do. On some of the early plays, Brady couldn’t contain himself and got in the way of Kevin Burkhardt’s calls in moments where he didn’t need to. As the game progressed, Brady was able to dial it back and let Burkhardt do what he does best.
Tom Brady disses Kevin Hart
Brady doesn’t forget. As the game headed into blowout territory, the commentary team needed to find something to talk about, and Brady made sure to make a playful jab at one of the famous people in the crowd. After comedian Kevin Hart was shown on the broadcast, Brady asked ‘how do the cameras find Kevin Hart?’
It was a clear shot at Hart’s height, and Brady was likely trying to get back at Hart for what he said at the Tom Brady roast.
‘Kevin, I love you. You took so many shots at me in May, I’m coming right back at you,’ Brady said.
Missed calls
Of course, Brady didn’t call a perfect game on the microphone with some errors that were likely caught by most of the audience.
His first one came at the end of the first quarter when a flag was thrown on a third-down play, and Brady indicated it happened in the secondary. It turned out to be an offsides penalty.
One of the notable moments came not long after the first miss. After Jalen Hurts threw an interception early in the second quarter, Brady was giving his analysis of the play when he got cut off by the broadcast, showing he took a little too long to get his thought process through.