The Tom Brady answer everybody is waiting for at Super Bowl LIX

Comment: The former Patriots and Buccaneers quarterback has endured a testing start to life in the booth with Fox after penning a 10-year, $375m deal, but, as Jack Rathborn discusses, Super Bowl LIX offers Brady a chance to prove his worth in this fascinating next chapter. Tom Brady has played in 10 Super Bowls, he’s won seven of them and become synonymous with the big game over the last two decades. Yet, now, his 11th Super Bowl, this time announcing, will prove pivotal to his success and longevity as a commentator.

Brady has been met with adulation and animosity in equal measures throughout his career, stoking emotions around this enormous meeting between sport and entertainment. Now, as not only the highest-paid announcer in sport with Fox on a 10-year, $375m deal, but in the peculiar and conflicting position as a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, he is braced for intense scrutiny over three-and-a-half hours.

Much like facing the ferocity of a defensive lineman closing in, Brady endured a jittery start to life in the booth. But Sunday in New Orleans, in front of an expected audience of 120 million, Fox expects Brady to remain composed and deliver after a testing debut season. Fresh from a new high calling the NFC Championship game, Brady tapped into his encyclopedic playbook with a Tony Romo-esque impression as the Philadelphia Eagles battled the Washington Commanders two weeks ago.

"This is where he usually looks in this situation,” Brady uttered while scribbling a yellow circle on the screen to point the viewer’s attention to Zach Ertz as the ball was snapped to quarterback Jayden Daniels. A vital fourth-down conversion, down eight points in the fourth quarter, was duly completed to the tight end. “You called it,” lead commentator Kevin Burkhardt replied a few seconds later.

So here, as the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles, Brady ought to relish this stage and a rare opportunity to divulge unheard stories and rare insight into exactly what it takes to win it all. Notably, his unique standing and history with Patrick Mahomes, after their careers briefly overlapped, makes for a fascinating subplot to his announcing performance. Brady conceded earlier in the season that the gig was “too much, too soon” in his desperate attempt to produce smooth, witty analysis on demand.

“There’s no scoreboard for us,” Brady mentioned this week. “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. I’m very excited for what’s ahead.”. Brady endured an awkward start when Fox opted to ditch the blossoming, fan-friendly combination of Burkhardt with former NFL tight end Greg Olsen. His initial offering was underwhelming and a little clumsy. Overly-prepared notes and analysis were married with awkward moments of silence as the pair gradually built their chemistry.

While Brady has not been as cutting as Troy Aikman, as smooth and charming as Cris Collinsworth or as captivating as Tony Romo, the echo chamber of social media, revelling in Brady’s early struggles, delivered an overly scathing review week after week. There appears to be a refusal from some to accept Brady’s improvements, notably in that NFC Championship game with the clairvoyant pre-snap remarks. Brady has also been criticised for his reluctance to criticise established stars, yet he singled out Jalen Hurts after an errant pass and appears to gradually be finding balance here.

“He knew what he wanted,” a disgruntled Brady remarked. “I'd cut that [ball] loose to the back pylon, let it go, right there. It's one area of his game I want to see consistent improvement on.”. Is Brady perfect? No. But with the game on the line in the fourth quarter and the ball is in Patrick Mahomes or Hurts’ hands, are there many football minds that fans would truly prefer to listen to? This, after all, is when the Fox bet truly pays off as the audience swells.

“There’s a lot of adrenaline in that, but it was very different from when I played,” Brady acknowledged. “I would probably see all these things, I didn’t have to verbalize them. “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.”. Some fans or, perhaps more crucially, the NFL and its commissioner Roger Goodell will question Brady’s conflicting role thanks to that five per cent stake he holds in the Raiders. Indeed, the 47-year-old called the Lions vs Commanders playoff game while he was conceivably pushing to help bring a Lions assistant coach to fill the Las Vegas head coach vacancy.