Tom Brady spent Sunday sounding less like a polished FOX analyst and more like the quarterback he used to be.
The line that grabbed the most attention came when he watched Dak Prescott fire a throw and called it an “absolute pi** missile.” It was a blunt, unscripted burst that fit the tone of a booth that had already gone sideways earlier in the game.
That earlier moment came when Jayden Daniels suffered a nasty left-elbow injury on the final play of the second quarter. Brady reacted immediately on the broadcast, saying, “Oh s-t,” and then, “Excuse me. I was not expecting to see that.”
Dallas went on to beat Washington 37-20 at AT&T Stadium. Prescott had the ball after Daniels left on a cart, and Marcus Mariota handled the second half for Washington.
The “absolute piss missile” line is the one that will get replayed, but the injury sequence was the moment that set the booth off. Brady has pushed back on the idea that he’s become a punchline in the broadcast chair, but Sunday gave viewers three very unfiltered moments in one window.
Kevin Burkhardt can handle the down-and-distance. Brady, meanwhile, kept sounding like the man who used to throw the missile instead of describing it.
The Daniels injury was ugly. Chris Paul stepped on his quarterback at the 1-yard line, and the elbow folded the same way it did last year in Seattle. Brady saw the replay and reacted like plenty of people watching at home.
The later family mix-up didn’t help either. Brady has a history with Jayden’s mom, Regina, on the field, and the language just kept slipping through.
FOX is paying him $375 million to sit in that chair, but they are not getting a spotless color man every snap. They’re getting Brady when a ball jumps out of Dak’s hand and the cleanest word he can find is still the one he would have used in a locker room.
Dallas is 1-1. Washington is 0-2 and without its starter. Brady is 3-for-3 on unfiltered audio.
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