The Tom Brady broadcasting experience has been just as polarizing as anyone who watched his NFL career could have expected, but Michael Wilbon is ready to call it a success.
After Brady went viral for his comments on the Azeez Al-Shaair late hit against Trevor Lawrence in Week 13 of the season, Wilbon sang Brady’s praises on Wednesday’s episode of Pardon the Interruption while taking an odd personal victory lap for having predicted Brady’s successes at Fox.
“I love listening to Brady on Sundays do games,” Wilbon told cohost Tony Kornheiser. “I thought Tom Brady was going to be great and compelling at this when he retired; you didn’t think so. I love listening to Brady. He gives you stuff to think about every time he opens his mouth.”
Michael Wilbon: “I love listening to Brady on Sundays do games. I thought Tom Brady was going to be great and compelling at this … and he gives you stuff to think about every time he opens his mouth.”
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 5, 2024
The strange part of Wilbon’s rant is that it came after comments Brady made on FS1’s The Herd—not while calling a game for Fox. This difference is one of the many criticisms against Brady: that he is better in a free-wheeling environment like radio than in small increments as a game analyst.
Wilbon praised Brady for being “provocative” and “persuasive” after surprisingly taking the defender’s side rather than defending his fellow quarterback, Lawrence. But those persuasive and provocative moments are fewer and further between in the broadcast booth for the seven-time Super Bowl champion.
On Thanksgiving, Brady drew attention for panning Giants QB Daniel Jones over disagreements with the team, which allegedly asked Jones to step in as scout-team safety during practices before he was ultimately cut. Brady claimed that while Jones and many others might see that request as disrespectful, he would have gladly accepted it for the betterment of the team — an easy claim to make as a retired Hall of Famer rather than a fringe starter.
This is just one example of Brady’s out-of-step with what fans seem to want from him in the booth. To be fair, the future Hall of Famer has plenty of fans among NFL viewers.
Again, Brady is polarizing and still finding his way as an announcer. Yet that didn’t stop Michael Wilbon from running a victory lap over foreseeing what he sees as Brady’s tremendous performance so far.
Talk about confirmation bias.
