Tom Brady Kevin Burkhardt Credit: NFL on Fox
By Matt Yoder on

It’s often said that nobody watches games for the announcers. Which is 99% true, and also a weird site built on sports announcers to admit. But if there ever was a game where someone was going to watch for the person in the booth, it was the debut of $350 million man Tom Brady in Week 1 on Fox as the Dallas Cowboys played the Cleveland Browns.

Brady’s debut produced mixed results. For someone who is unquestionably the GOAT of the NFL, Brady sounded nervous and unnatural when the game started before settling into a rhythm in the second half. While he may turn out to be the broadcasting GOAT in due time, he’s definitely got a long road ahead of him to get there.

But as for the viewership, the combination of Tom Brady in the booth and America’s Team on the field predictably produced big numbers for Fox. The game drew 23.8 million viewers, ranking as Fox’s most watched Week 1 telecast since 2020. And it was up 46% versus last year’s corresponding Week 1 game.

While that’s a great number and the 46% increase might be an enormous indication that this game was must-see TV, it actually comes with a huge asterisk. Last season both Fox and CBS had nationally televised games at 4:25 PM ET in Week 1, splitting the audience. In fact, according to Sports Media Watch, the 2020 date corresponds to the last time that Fox and CBS did not both air Week 1 doubleheaders against each other.

Fox probably would have hoped for an even larger number given the ratings power of the Cowboys and the fact that it was the most hyped broadcasting debut maybe ever. Of course, what matters most above all is the game. And the rating would have been a lot bigger had the Browns been competitive in what quickly turned into a Cowboys blowout, although there may have been a few fans stick around to see what the Browns have brought upon themselves with DeShaun Watson.

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