As Tom Brady prepares to call his first Super Bowl for Fox, he received some advice from Phil Simms, who, believe it or not, has called eight Super Bowls himself.
Like Al Michaels, Simms knows something about calling the biggest game of the year. If anyone is qualified to offer advice on approaching the moment, it’s the former New York Giants quarterback — who was ousted from The NFL on CBS after last season.
As for Brady, he spent part of his gap year between playing and broadcasting reaching out to select media members for advice on making a successful transition. But he didn’t reach out to Simms, who once said he couldn’t picture Brady in the booth and later criticized his take on young quarterbacks.
With Tom Brady set to call his first Super Bowl in his debut season as an announcer, Simms has a word of advice — or a few.
“I was always a big believer in this: what’s the big theme of the game?” Simms shared during a recent appearance on the Awful Announcing Podcast with host Brandon Contes. “In other words, I’d love that part where we’d first come on and talk about the game and ‘Here’s what we expect.’ What was great about it was you had so much information from studying all week, but from the players and coaches. I had a lot of good relationships with, of course, quarterbacks, but especially head coaches.
“Honestly, they’d tell me about everything. I could piece it all together and almost declare who I thought was going to win the game in the opening thing. I will say this, too: I had a sign. I can’t tell you what the sign said, because it had some curse words in it. But, no announcer’s ever been accused of not talking enough, OK? So my sign said something to the effect of, ‘Shut the [insert expletive] up.’ And I had it right above my telestrator.”
People would come inside the broadcast booth and razz Simms for it, but it was his thing — he didn’t want to overtalk.
“Hopefully, I could be succinct and all that,” he said. “There were times it worked great and other times, I’d get done and go, ‘Damn, couldn’t talk today. What the hell’s wrong with me?'”
Simms’ advice truly boils down to keeping it simple, but not being afraid to dive deep when the moment calls for it.
Brady has improved as the season’s gone on, but as Simms knows, finding that sweet spot between giving the game room to breathe and offering valuable insights will be key.
Here’s hoping Brady doesn’t end up with his own “Shut the [expletive] up” sign above the telestrator.
Listen to the full episode of the Awful Announcing Podcast featuring Phil Simms beginning Friday, Feb. 7. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. For more content, subscribe to AA’s YouTube page.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.