Why Belichick thought Brady was ‘great’ in his broadcasting debut

Why Belichick thought Brady was ‘great’ in his broadcasting debut originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Bill Belichick and Tom Brady both have new jobs in media. And based on the nature of those jobs, they’ll both be asked how each other are performing in their new roles.

The first example of this New England Patriots legend feedback loop came Monday night, when Belichick was asked what he thought of Brady’s broadcast debut as FOX’s lead analyst for the Dallas Cowboys-Cleveland Browns Week 1 matchup.

Brady received mixed reviews and was awkward at times alongside play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt and rules analyst Mike Pereira. But Belichick gave his former quarterback a thumbs up.

“I thought Tom was great,” Belichick told host Jim Gray on the Let’s Go! podcast. “I think that he had a lot better day when Dallas went to Cleveland than I had in my first game in Cleveland when Dallas came in.”

That’s a reference to Belichick’s first game as an NFL head coach, when the Cowboys defeated his Browns 26-14 in Week 1 of the 1991 season. So, if Belichick thought Brady didn’t “lose” his first game in the broadcast both, what did he think the seven-time Super Bowl champion did well?

“I thought Tom did great,” Belichick added. “I thought he brought up a lot of great points in the game. Certainly the number of times Cleveland went backwards he continued to highlight, and that’s a problem. … He made some good points about (Browns quarterback) Deshaun (Watson) hanging in there, even at the end of the game.”

Belichick made a similar point about the Cleveland offense earlier that day on The Pat McAfee Show, noting that one of Brady’s underrated strengths as a quarterback was his ability to limit negative plays — something Watson and the Browns failed to do during an ugly 33-17 loss to Dallas.

“I think (Brady) must have said I don’t know how many times (Sunday) in the Dallas-Cleveland game, ‘(Cleveland) keeps going backwards. They keep losing too many yards.’ Well, that’s the truth,” Belichick told McAfee.

“The offense’s job is to move the ball forward, and when you’re in second-and-long of more than 10 yards, it’s really impossible to have any kind of success or any kind of consistency, so just get the thing moving in the right direction.”

Belichick and Brady had plenty of disagreements that contributed to Brady’s departure from the Patriots in 2020. But it’s clear they have mutual respect for each other’s knowledge of the game, so it’s no surprise to see Belichick laud Brady for making this specific observation.

Brady will need plenty more reps before he’s fully comfortable in the broadcast booth. In the meantime, however, he has the support of at least one football junkie in his former boss.