The Philadelphia Eagles set the tone of their NFL Wild Card Weekend victory over the Green Bay Packers from the opening kickoff as special teams defender Oren Burks forced a fumble with a violent helmet-to-helmet hit on returner Keisean Nixon. Up in the broadcast booth, Fox’s Tom Brady not only hyped up the tackle but insisted it was clean and legal.
Seemingly caught up in the impact of Philadelphia’s big start, Brady complimented the iffy hit by Brooks with no discussion of the potential for a penalty or head injury to Nixon.
“Exactly the way you can’t start,” Brady said. “You got it to a great player in Keisean Nixon, but an absolutely clean hit on the ball knocks it free … big-time hit there by Oren Burks.
A moment later, Brady doubled down.
“Great hit right on the ball,” he added while Fox showed the replay. “Talk about setting a physical tone for the game … you do that by covering kicks, and that is an absolute crushing hit right there.”
A closer look at the hit showed Burks lowering his shoulder and popping Nixon’s helmet back with a strong spear.
That’s how you bring the boom.
📺: #GBvsPHI on FOX
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/dv89DKofVp— NFL (@NFL) January 12, 2025
Officials in Philadelphia did not call a penalty on Burks, and the Eagles gained possession after a review of Nixon’s fumble.
Beyond Brady, neither Kevin Burkhardt on play-by-play or rules analyst Mike Pereira address the potential for a “use of the helmet” penalty or possible ejection.
Yet Brady got the brunt of the criticism because he continually called it clean while also praising its nastiness.
Longtime ESPN and local Dallas NFL reporter Ed Werder called out Brady’s questionable analysis in real time.
Why does Tom Brady keep saying great hit right on the ball. Looked like contact was helmet to helmet.
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdNFL) January 12, 2025
A comment thread on the NFL sub-Reddit bashed Brady for calling the hit “clean” while pointing out that Brady, whose 2011 knee injury infamously led to NFL rule changes designed to protect quarterbacks, “would have whined for an hour” if Burks hit him like that.
The thread received several hundred likes.
Whether Brady simply lost track of the possibility of a dirty hit in the thrill of the big opening play or genuinely didn’t see anything wrong with it, he and the Fox broadcast missed a big opportunity to address that angle on the first play of arguably the biggest game of the first weekend of the NFL postseason.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.