Nobody’s perfect and mistakes happen, but there’s a certain level of knowledge one hopes a broadcaster has when calling a game. On Sunday, Tom Brady appeared to be missing some rather critical context when doing just that.
Brady and play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt were on the call for the second meeting of the season between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. It’s not only the first time in 64 years that both teams have had 11 or more wins going into a game against one another, but they’re both battling for critical playoff positioning and potential NFC North crown implications.
Given all of that, you expect the broadcasters calling that game to be pretty buttoned up about how both teams got here. Specifically, you should be pretty clear on what happened the first time these two teams played this season.
Tom Brady can’t remember that the third team the Packers lost to this year was the Vikings…who they’re currently on the field playing 😬pic.twitter.com/gd1a4zj4lP
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 29, 2024
“They’ve got four losses this year, Green Bay does,” said Brady during the game intro. “Two of them to the Lions, they’re a good team. The Eagles, they lost to them, they’re a good team. And they lost to the, uh…who’d they lose to the other one? Anyway…”
That fourth loss that Brady couldn’t remember? It was to the Vikings on Sept. 29.
Now, again, mistakes and brainfarts happen. But if perception is reality, and the perception is that Brady isn’t capable of getting all the pre-game research and planning he needs due to his restrictions as a team owner, it doesn’t look great when he’s caught flat-footed unable to remember simple information about the game he’s calling.
And yes, the microscope is on Brady right now, and whether or not he justifies his price tag (and pushing out Greg Olsen), so any mistake is going to be amplified. But still, not a good look for Fox’s A-team.
As for whatever happens when Brady tries to say the word “sack,” that’s a whole other story.
Why does Tom Brady say “sacks” like that? pic.twitter.com/piMMoToADi
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 29, 2024
[Fox]
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.