Jan 2, 2022; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) talks with tight end Rob Gronkowski (87) during the first quarter against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
By Sam Neumann on

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Rob Gronkowski doesn’t think Tom Brady has anything to apologize for.

In speaking with Front Office Sports this week, the former Patriots and Buccaneers tight end said he “loved” Brady’s unvarnished reaction to Jayden Daniels’ gruesome injury during Fox’s broadcast of the Cowboys’ 37-20 win over the Commanders last Sunday.

“I mean, I loved it,” Gronkowski said. “It’s a natural reaction, you know, and that’s what the fans want. I’d rather have him do that instead of being fabricated. Fans don’t want fabrication. They want real. They want natural. And that was real and natural out of Tom.”

Just before halftime of that aforementioned game, Daniels dislocated his elbow, and Brady reacted the way a lot of people at home probably did. “Oh, sh*t,” Brady blurted, then hastily caught himself. “Excuse me. I was not expecting to see that.” Brady’s vocabulary betrayed him again in the fourth quarter, when he christened a deep completion from Dak Prescott to CeeDee Lamb as an “absolute piss missile.”

By midweek, the seven-time Super Bowl champion was in a decidedly contrite mood and addressed his profane language on his latest “#AskTom” episode for NFL on Fox.

“That swear jar is getting way too full in my house. My kids are getting way too happy with me filling up that jar,” Brady said. “I’m actually kind of embarrassed. There’s a lot of grandmas at home that probably aren’t very happy with my mouth on Fox. I’m gonna fix that. Sorry. I apologize.”

Gronkowski, however, sees nothing to apologize for. He admitted his own visceral reaction to Daniels’ mangled arm was a cringing “Ooh, nasty,” and insisted Brady’s expletive was every bit as involuntary. If anything, Gronkowski argued, the slip was a rare glimpse of the Brady who spent two decades barking at teammates and officials, a side of himself he has to keep locked away once he’s in the booth.

“He holds back a little bit because when he was playing, you’re allowed to be intense and use those words,” Gronkowski said. “When you’re in the booth, you got to be more appropriate. You got to be more buttoned up. So it was good to let loose, and that shows how comfortable he is now.”

This time, though, he did concede that Brady’s early efforts in the booth fell short of the polished product viewers hear today, chalking up those growing pains to the simple fact that Brady had never called a game before Fox handed him its top job.

“He’s killing it. He really is,” Gronkowski said. “I knew he would start killing it sooner than later. Even if he sucked at the beginning, it didn’t matter. He was not at the level he’s at now, but that makes sense because he’s never done it before. But knowing him and his personality and who he is, I knew he would be at this level. And it’s actually sooner than I even thought.”

Brady and Kevin Burkhardt were back in the booth for Bills-Chargers on Sunday, and while Brady kept things considerably cleaner this time, his colorful vocabulary was still on full display. When Justin Herbert lofted an ill-advised pass that was picked off, Brady described the throw as a “meatball sub.”

Fox — and grandmas everywhere — would surely prefer its $375 million analyst stick to that kind of language, but if another piss missile slips out down the road, Brady can rest assured that at least one former tight end will be cheering him on.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann