Marchand: Tom Brady brought star power to Super Bowl, but failed to say much

In becoming the most successful quarterback in NFL history, Tom Brady walked to the line of scrimmage with the answers to the test.

As if his mind were working in 4-D, he knew the defense’s plan, as well as his opponent’s. His lightning-quick processing resulted in seven rings and the title of the greatest NFL quarterback of all time.

As a $375 million NFL game analyst, Brady has a ways to go if his words are going to lead Fox Sports’ championship coverage instead of just being a part of it.

His presence might have made the Super Bowl LIX broadcast feel bigger, but it wasn’t by anything he said.

Ending his rookie broadcast season in the Super Bowl, Brady, the analyst, wasn’t that much better than the Kansas City Chiefs, who were shellacked by the Philadelphia Eagles 40-22.

Brady told us a lot of what was happening, but we wanted to know from his 4-D mind — why?

Overall, he was pedestrian. Brady’s performance equated to 11-for-25 for 178 yards with no touchdowns, but no interceptions as he rode along for the championship.

With Patrick Mahomes seeing the Chiefs historic three-peat quickly slip through his grips and with the Eagles in his face on every play, Brady consistently failed to tell us why Mahomes had no time.

In the first half, when Mahomes had a terrible interception that was returned for a touchdown, Brady again failed to tell us why it happened.

Brady routinely called Mahomes “Patrick” on the broadcast, which is a subtle difference between being a commentator and a contemporary.

Brady kept talking about watching “Patrick’s” feet as the Eagles defensive line harassed him. Any fan could see that “Patrick” was running for his life. We needed “Tom” to tell us: How do you combat that, as one of the greatest quarterbacks ever?

The “Brady Rules” have hovered over Brady’s first year as a broadcaster. Since Brady is a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, the NFL imposed restrictions on him, one of which was to not criticize officials. While overall he was mostly unmemorable in the first half, his best two moments were saying that he didn’t like two penalties that kept drives alive.

“I don’t like that one either,” Brady said following the second one, a borderline hit to the head.

Despite those moments of candor, overall he just didn’t say much and still needs to fully grasp the concepts of being a successful broadcaster.

When Fox committed a 10-year, $375 million contract to Brady in 2022, it did so as much about what he meant around the broadcast as during it. He was brought in to make everything feel bigger, which he did during the pregame that began at 1 p.m.

By 2 p.m., Brady made his initial appearance, looking cool in a blue blazer and white T-shirt as the Fox NFL Sunday crew cracked jokes at the sweating Rob Gronkowski. Brady’s analysis was rather bland, but his presence added to the festivities, unlike anyone else could.

Later, there was an attempt to go viral as Brady fired a couple of passes from one Bourbon Street balcony to another, including one to his old mate, Gronkowski. Brady’s accuracy — perfect strikes, but of course — was actually a detriment as a TV performer because a misfire would have played better.

About an hour before kickoff, a Brady interview of Mahomes was in the spotlight, GOAT-to-possible-future-GOAT. It wasn’t Frost-Nixon, but it was a good visual for Fox.

The trouble Patrick Mahomes had with the Philadelphia Eagles’ pass rush was the analysis that The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand wanted to hear more about from Fox’s Tom Brady. (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

Fox Sports’ production is so respected that others want to emulate it. Last year, ESPN, with its long-awaited Super Bowl coming in February 2027, tried to hire away Fox Sports’ president of programming and production Brad Zager to run its show before making an internal hire, sources briefed on discussions told The Athletic. Zager, just 46, already has led three Super Bowl broadcasts.

His NFL production team of producer Richie Zyontz and director Rich Russo might be the best in the business.

The trio, along with play-by-player Kevin Burkhardt, were the ones who developed Greg Olsen. He was the interim No. 1, when Brady played one more season and then took a gap year, before beginning in the booth this year.

In his Super Bowl two years ago, the Chiefs’ 38-35 thriller over the Eagles, Olsen was stronger as an analyst than Brady was Sunday. Olsen, with basically an extra season, did have far more reps than Brady before his big game.

Still, Eric Shanks, Fox Sports CEO, told The Athletic last week he would make the Brady deal again, without a doubt.

Fox swung big on more than Brady for the Super Bowl. The new score bug, while large, was a throwback to a more minimalist approach of yesteryear that shocked hardcore viewers, but has potential. The virtual background of New Orleans instead of a traditional booth was a new approach, though unnecessary.

What Fox does so well is capturing the little elements and then thinking big. It spotted Chiefs star defensive lineman Chris Jones wiping away tears during the national anthem.

On the pregame show, Fox constructed its studio setup in the wee hours of Sunday morning so it could be live on Bourbon Street.

This was an unorthodox decision, as these are usually erected in advance, but, with the crowd on hand in the historic site, the show had tremendous energy at 1 p.m., five-and-a-half hours before kickoff.

The pregame concluded with a Lady Gaga performance. Brady and Michael Strahan did a walk-and-talk intro about togetherness, flanked by Roger Goodell, Fox Sports personalities, and most pointedly, first responders, as they remembered recent tragedies from New Orleans to Los Angeles.

This was another production that took some chutzpah, as the taping started at 3:30 a.m. Thursday on Bourbon Street, which needed a buy-in from major stars, including Lady Gaga. It was a golden moment for Shanks and Zager.

To use a Charles Barkley analogy, Brady was a bus rider, not a bus driver, on the telecast. Fox Sports brought him along for the trip for this championship.

Brady said last week he plans to complete his 10-year Fox deal. Its next Super Bowl is not until 2029. Maybe by then, he will be ready to lead.

(Illustration: Ray Orr / The Athletic; Michael Owens / Getty Images)