Media legend praises broadcasting debut of Tom Brady

If nothing else, it certainly seems as if individuals throughout the sports community tuned in to this past Sunday's game between the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns specifically to hear Tom Brady make his regular-season announcing debut. 

During a chat with media insider Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated, broadcasting legend Al Michaels praised Brady for his call of what became a largely missable game. 

"Outstanding coming out of the gate," Michaels said about Brady. "He had a nice flow with (play-by-play announcer) Kevin Burkhardt. I found it to be a very comfortable listen. People expecting Tom to deliver things from the Holy Grail, no. The game was not a compelling game. Tom did something that's very hard to do. He kept the audience in a blowout and a road blowout on top of that. Some of the things that Tom talked about in the fourth quarter made me not want to hit the remote to go to another game." 

Critics of Brady's performance mentioned that the seven-time Super Bowl champion sounded nervous from his pregame introduction up through when Dallas took a 20-3 lead over Cleveland into halftime. Bill Simmons of The Ringer said he felt Brady had a "rough debut" and could've done a better job of explaining why Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson struggled throughout what became a 33-17 Cowboys victory. 

However, Michaels praised the way that Brady described "how hard it was to play against a" defense coached by Dallas coordinator Mike Zimmer. According to Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal, Brady noted that Zimmer's scheme keeps a quarterback "guessing" and gets into the "mind space" of a signal-caller. Brady also pointed out how the Browns trailing the Cowboys 27-3 in the third quarter forced the hosts "into a game that [they] didn't want to be in throwing the ball as often as they have." 

"I think he had a very good sense of timing," Michaels added about Brady. "I think for a debut, it was terrific."

Understandably, some media personalities who have experience calling games have been kinder to Brady than pockets of fans who have been posting on social media websites about the future Hall of Famer since Sunday afternoon. Brady and Burkhardt will get another look at the Cowboys when the duo calls this Sunday's matchup between Dallas and the New Orleans Saints held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.