During his call of Sunday’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles, Tom Brady seemed to briefly go back in time about 15 years.
Facing a fourth-and-two from the Pittsburgh 30, Philadelphia sent its field goal team onto the field for a 48-yard try. Brady was somewhat surprised because, as he put it, “Akers has struggled this year.”
After a few seconds of silence, Brady remembered that Philadelphia’s kicker is Jake Elliott.
“Excuse me, Jake Elliott.”
“… with the way that Akers is struggling with it this year… Excuse me, Jake Elliott.” – Tom Brady
(David Akers was last the Eagles’ kicker in 2010) pic.twitter.com/OqLeXjNCle
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 15, 2024
While David Akers was a longtime kicker for the Eagles, it’s been a while. He retired from the NFL after the 2013 season and last kicked for the Eagles in 2010.
“Right team, you competed against Akers,” play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt said.
“I’ve had a lot against him, too,” Brady said. “That’s the problem, these Philly kickers run together. Fortunately, I played ’em in too many big games and came up on the wrong end of it.”
Despite his struggles, Elliott made the kick. The three points were taken off the board, however, when the Steelers were flagged for unnecessary roughness, giving the Eagles a first down. Elliott did get the three points later in the possession when he connected on a 41-yard kick.
Brady faced the Eagles in a pair of Super Bowls during his career with the New England Patriots. In Super Bowl LII — when Elliott was Philadelphia’s kicker — Brady and the Pats came up short, losing 41-33. When the two teams met 13 years earlier in Super Bowl XXXIX, Brady’s New England team scored a 24-21 win.
It’s an understandable mistake, particularly when remembering the results of those big games.
