[Baltimore Sun] Tom Brady will be on the call for pivotal Ravens vs. Cowboys game Sunday
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The Ravens and Tom Brady are matched up again, this time in the broadcast booth.
Fox’s top NFL crew of Brady, play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt and sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi will be on the call for “America’s Game of the Week” between Baltimore and the host Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at AT&T Stadium.
Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is in his first season as an analyst after signing a reported 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox. He replaced former NFL tight end Greg Olsen as Burkhardt’s partner for the network, which will also broadcast this season’s Super Bowl in New Orleans.
Unlike his 23-year NFL career, it’s been a rocky start in the booth for Brady. The three-time NFL Most Valuable Player and future Hall of Famer drew criticism for some awkward moments, nervousness and a lack of insight in his highly anticipated debut, a 33-17 win by the Cowboys over the Cleveland Browns.
“I’m not tired from the game. I’m tired from the buildup,” Brady said on his YouTube show after the game. “A lot of emotional energy and not quite knowing how things are gonna go. Certainly, a lot of fun. Definitely things to clean up. So, it’s all a learning process, man.”
The 47-year-old earned much higher marks for his performance in the New Orleans Saints’ 44-19 thrashing of the Cowboys on Sunday. Though it was another blowout, Brady pointed out how the Saints were able to move the ball so effectively on offense and offered his own perspective on why it’s the quarterback’s job to prevent his receivers from taking big hits.
Brady’s debut in the booth has come with much fanfare (perhaps too much for the viewers at home), but he’s at a disadvantage compared with other announcers. Because Brady has a pending deal to become part-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, he’s forbidden from sitting in on pregame meetings with teams or visiting their facilities to watch practice for fear of gaining inside information. He could also face discipline from the league if he criticizes officiating or tampers with players under contract while calling games, per NFL rules.
While this will be Brady’s third straight game covering the Cowboys, it’s his first time watching the Ravens from the announcer’s box. He went 8-5 in his career against Baltimore, including 2-2 in the playoffs, going back-and-forth with Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and a vaunted defense in many memorable matchups. Brady last faced the Ravens in the 2022 season, a 27-22 loss in Week 8 amid the final year of his career as a member of the Buccaneers.
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Brady and Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson have expressed mutual admiration for each other over the years, with Brady going so far as to challenge Jackson to carry the torch and win a Super Bowl title when he announced his retirement in February 2022.
But entering this season, Brady still wanted to see more from the two-time NFL MVP and his squad, pointing to the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills as bigger threats to dethrone the two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.
“They’re right up there,” Brady said on the Stephen A. Smith Show in August. “They’re exceptional. The Ravens have to be more successful in the postseason for me to feel like they’re right there. The Bengals have made it to the Super Bowl. The Bills have been in championship games.”
Sunday’s 4:25 p.m. matchup in Arlington, Texas, comes at a pivotal moment for the Ravens, who are 0-2 for the first time since 2015 and have lost three straight games (including January’s AFC championship game defeat to Kansas City) for the first time with Jackson as the starter. It’s the second time in three weeks that Baltimore will play before a national audience, having lost to the Chiefs in the league opener Sept. 5 in Kansas City. That was the most-watched NFL kickoff game ever, according to NBC, averaging 28.9 million viewers, and Sunday’s game could draw a similarly big number.
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