Tom Brady has been told to “reset” and “get back to basics” in a staggering attack on his ability in the FOX Sports booth.
Brady is in the first season of a 10-year deal worth $375 million he signed with FOX back in 2022. He is currently working with play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt on the network’s top NFL broadcasting team.
After a particularly difficult showing in Week 1, Brady has appeared more composed in terms of his timing and delivery. However, Bill Simmons has grown tired of the seven-time Super Bowl champion’s efforts.
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“I thought Brady was just bad today,” Simmons said on ‘The Bill Simmons Podcast’ after Brady called Lions-Vikings for Fox. “He just doesn’t tell me enough.”
After his podcast partner ‘Cousin Sal’ Iacono blamed the FOX Sports production team for Brady’s slow start in the booth, Simmons suggested the former quarterback has not been adequately assisted. He is primarily worried about how “genuine” Brady truly is.
“I think he’s being poorly produced, is where I’ve landed,” Simmons said. “Because I think whatever they’re telling him to do, it’s not working. I don’t feel like I’m watching the game with him. He comes in in the beginning, he’s got this fake energy … none of it feels genuine to me.”
He continued: “I know it’s in there, and they just have not unlocked it, and I think they really have to figure it out. He seemed super over-prepared for me… I don’t think he’s good at it. Now we’ve had nine weeks, and I feel like he’s gotten worse than he was four, five weeks ago. Now it’s like he’s gotten too many notes. But when we get to the playoffs and there’s only one game on, it’s going to be pretty glaring when we’re watching all these other playoff games.”
Ultimately, the 55-year-old is confident Brady will eventually deliver, advising that FOX needs to simplify the project surrounding the former quarterback. Simmons added: “I really think they need to hit the reset button, clear the cache, start over, and just be like, ‘We overloaded you with too much stuff.’
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Tom Brady made his booth debut back in Week 1 and is a part of FOX Sports’ lead team (
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“Get back to the basics. Just watch the game with (Kevin) Burkhardt, tell us what you see, come into the game with five, six things that you know you want to hit.”
Brady has already had to navigate intriguing obstacles after his minority bid to become an owner of the Las Vegas Raiders was voted through. Brady is unable to publicly criticize officials and other teams, with fines or suspensions in place if the league deems he breaks the policy, while he is also strictly limited to social communication with members of other organizations.
Skip Bayless has also been unimpressed by Brady and likened him to New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. On Monday’s edition of his podcast, ‘The Skip Bayless Show’, Bayless said: “Alright, good news, Sunday’s Cowboys game is on CBS not on Fox. So we get Tony Romo instead of Tom Brady. As I have said 12 trillion times, Tom Brady was the greatest NFL player ever by far. But as a TV analyst, he’s nothing but Daniel Jones. I’m sorry, but Tom Brady drove me nuts yesterday during the Detroit-Green Bay game with his endless, giddy, captain-obvious blabber.
“He just talks and talks and talks some more about what is so clichedly obvious. So annoyingly obvious, so Patriots-Brady talking to the media obvious. So eager to be nice guy Tom obvious. So little insight, so many words. So many close-ups. ‘Hi, I’m Tom Brady’. Yeah, we know, unfortunately, we know, Tom.”
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