There have been plenty of suggestions for how Tom Brady can improve in the broadcast booth, and Chris Russo offered some more advice Monday.
Russo’s advice could be boiled down to three words: “Less is more.”
Brady has faced a steep learning curve in his first year as the color analyst in Fox’s No. 1 broadcast booth. The legendary quarterback has been called out at various times for not adding any useful analysis, for overlooking information he should have known, and for having a perceived conflict of interest given his minority ownership stake in the Las Vegas Raiders.
That’s left many fans and those in sports media wondering: Are these typical struggles for a rookie broadcaster, or is Brady not cut out for the role? On Monday’s edition of Mad Dog Unleashed on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio, Russo praised Brady for working hard in his new role.
Yet Russo thinks he’s trying to do too much.
“The issue that I’d have with Brady and all analysts is that they want to tell you too much,” Russo said (via Barrett Sports Media). “Tom, like everybody else, wants to analyze every play, every minutiae of every play, and sometimes simple is the way to go instead of being over-analytical. Sometimes just [talking] less helps, and no announcer does it, and Tom doesn’t do it either.”
Perhaps Russo was trying to be diplomatic by suggesting “Tom, like everybody else” could benefit from talking less during games. But the fact he raised the issue while talking about Brady suggests he thinks it’s a real problem with the Fox analyst.
“Less is more, and I think most announcers in football have never learned that lesson,” Russo continued. “They think they’re paid by the word. I’ve said this forever — we all know this. Sometimes, just laying back, saying something simple in three words is better than butting in and saying something in six sentences. We don’t need the minutiae. We’re all watching the game, we all watch plenty of football.”
That’s good advice for Brady to keep in mind down the road, assuming he’s not planning to leave broadcasting after only one season, as some have speculated.
Still, Russo’s advice could apply to any analyst — or play-by-play announcer, for that matter — in any sport. “Less is more.”
“It’s not that complicated,” Russo said. “So many analysts try to make it so complicated – it drives you crazy at times — and I praised Brady for how much he’s worked because he’s worked his rear end off, you can tell.”
