Brady reflects on 'learning curve' of 1st season with Fox, calling Super Bowl and role with Raiders

Even though the scoreboard won't measure Tom Brady's performance in the Fox Sports booth during Sunday's Super Bowl, he is trying to take the same approach that he did in his previous 10 appearances in the big game as a player.

Brady addressed questions about his move to broadcasting as well as other issues on Wednesday during a conference call previewing Sunday's matchup in New Orleans between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

It was the first time Brady was made available for interviews. He has frequently appeared during the season on Colin Cowherd's show on FS1.

''There's no scoreboard for us. Did we feel we approached the game the right way, and were we prepared? Ultimately, it comes down to two things: Was I confident in what I said, and did I enjoy myself? I think if those are yes, then we did a good job,'' Brady said. ''I'm very excited for what's ahead.''

Brady has received as much scrutiny as an analyst as he did during his 23 seasons quarterbacking the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he won seven Super Bowls.

While the general consensus is that his first year in the booth has not been as good as Tony Romo's with CBS in 2017, Brady hasn't struggled as other former players and coaches who have attempted broadcasting.

Kevin Burkhardt, who is calling his second Super Bowl, said he has noticed Brady's comfort level improve as the season progresses.

''I think there's a reason that not everybody dives into this end of the pool because it's hard to be on TV for 3 1/2 hours every week and not have an edit button and go back and hit the delete button,'' Burkhardt said.

"I think the goal the whole way along was for us as a team to grow and get better as the year goes on. I think with anybody new, and I've worked with enough new partners over the years, it takes time to build chemistry, whether they're a TV veteran or not, and I think with this, it's no different. It just takes time on task. So I'm just proud of where we are."

Brady signed a 10-year, $375 million contract with Fox in May 2022 while still playing for Tampa Bay. He retired after that season and decided in February 2023 to take a year off before moving into the booth.

Burkhardt and Brady had plenty of practice games during the season, but those took place mostly on the Fox Sports lot in Los Angeles and not viewed by millions. Brady, though, knew that the learning curve was going to be steep, but he was ready for the challenge.

''To use your voice and vision for a live television audience, there's a lot of adrenaline in that, but it was very different from when I played. I would probably see all these things, I didn't have to verbalize them,'' he said.

''I knew subconsciously what to do, and my body just took over because that's how I trained it. When you embrace the uncertainty, you work as hard as you can to prepare yourself, knowing that you're going to wish you had done some things over. I've enjoyed the learning curve.

''I love the ability to take the viewer inside of just the way that I see things. In some ways, it's very simple. In some ways, it's very complicated. I feel as a crew, we're all hitting our stride. We know each other better every week. Hopefully, this is our best game yet.''

Brady noted that along with feedback he has received from Fox Sports, Romo, NBC's Cris Collinsworth and Amazon Prime Video's Al Michaels have reached out.

Along with Brady's approach to games as an analyst, there have also been questions about his dual roles in calling games and having a 5% stake as a limited owner in the Las Vegas Raiders.

The NFL put rules in place not allowing Brady to participate in Fox's production meetings with teams — either in person or via Zoom — watch practices, or step foot in a team's training complex.

Fox Sports president of production and operations/executive producer Brad Zager said in an interview with The Associated Press last month that any inferences about a potential conflict of interest between Brady calling games and being part of the Raiders' decision-making process are unfounded.

Brady will be allowed this week to attend production meetings with Chiefs and Eagles players and coaches. He will not be able to view practices.

Brady said that not being allowed in production meetings this season has not affected his research when preparing for games, even though there are other benefits he misses.

''I think the best part (of production meetings) is there are just genuine relationships that get built up over time, and it's a shared experience with people on your own crew sitting on calls and talking,'' he said.

''From a research standpoint, I listen to press conferences all week. To me, there's no difference in a media member asking a question on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday press conference that would be any different from any of the questions I would ask or the crew would ask.''

Brady did not directly say how much of a role he took in the Raiders hirings of head coach Pete Carroll, general manager John Spytek, and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. Owner Mark Davis recently said that Brady had helped lead a committee that brought Carroll and Spytek to the Raiders.

''I'm there to support the team, the leadership, and the overall vision for success,'' Brady said. ''This approach as a broadcaster has been all-encompassing this year. And the reality is that Mark Davis is the owner of the Raiders and I play a supportive, complementary role to the vision that he sets. And that will happen in its own time and place.''

While Brady's Patriots fell short in their quest for three straight Super Bowls, he said he would be happy to see Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs be the first team in the Super Bowl era to accomplish that feat.

It would also be the fourth championship for Mahomes, putting him closer to Brady and a title record that few thought could be reached when he retired.

''I love seeing other people achieve great things and for people to detract from anything Patrick is doing, I don't believe will ever detract from what I accomplished in my career,'' Brady said.

''The reality is we all have our journeys. The comparisons are fun naturally for the media because it serves a different perspective and context that people can write and talk about. But as a competitor that I was, I never viewed it that way, and I still don't today, even in the role that I am now.''

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