Tom Brady opens up on fear of letting people down as an NFL analyst ahead of 2024 season
Tom Brady has opened up on his preparations to call NFL games on FOX ahead of his first full season as a commentator following his unofficial debut in the UFL Championship booth.
The 46-year-old, seven-time Super Bowl champion, who appeared on FOX’s “Herd with Colin Cowherd” program Wednesday, revealed his first game jitters as an analyst before the Birmingham Stallions defeated the San Antonio Brahmas 25-0 last week. .
“I would say yes,” he responded to a question about whether he noticed the difference between putting his commentary and analysis into practice and living on air. ‘And I also think there is still so much room for improvement…
‘It’s almost like as a player I never felt like I was doing things the right way. There were games where I went in afterwards and thanked God [because I’d tell myself] ”I’m the worst quarterback in the NFL. Why would they even want me to play quarterback for this team?
‘And I’m sure I will feel the same way here at FOX. Right after I finish a game [I tell myself] “God… I didn’t even give them what they wanted…”
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He continued, “It’s a very challenging thing in your own mind. I’ve asked a few people, “How do you know you’ve done it right?” And I think a lot of this has to do with preparation and did I feel like I was prepared?
“I felt like our crew was prepared for me to give them my best over the course of the week so that we could give ourselves the best chance to be successful for the fans because the game is really the show. Were there to add our take on it and our analysis, but it’s also ‘Did we feel like we added anything to the broadcast?’
“And from my standpoint, I’m going to work as hard as I can… the process that you (Cowherd) talked about before is to make sure I deliver because I don’t want to let anyone down. … I don’t want to let the people down at FOX. I certainly don’t want to let down the great NFL fans either.”
Brady will certainly remember his debut in the booth alongside FOX’s Curt Menefee and Joel Klatt when he was heavily booed in St. Louis, where he and the Patriots caused an upset by beating the hometown Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI (2002) – the first title of The Dynasty of New England.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion admitted he wanted to be very efficient with his time
“The only way I knew how to combat the nerves and the tension of the game was to prepare,” the five-time Super Bowl MVP said of his early days as an NFL player. “So I was someone who became very good at my preparation over the course of my career.
“I’ve been very efficient with my time, especially because you add a lot of other things to your life, like children, you know, 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 that the time I spend preparing spent 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 for the sake of working on them that will never actually come up.”