Troy Aikman has warned Tom Brady that preparation will be the key to ensuring his Super Bowl announcing debut goes without a hitch.
The legendary quarterback is coming to the end of his first season of a 10-year, $375million broadcasting deal with Fox Sports.
Brady has come under fire as the network’s lead NFL analyst and he will call the biggest game of his new career next Sunday, when the Eagles face the Chiefs in New Orleans.
The 47-year-old is not the first former quarterback to swap the pocket for the booth and Aikman has offered Brady advice ahead of the Super Bowl.
The Hall of Famer won three championships as a Dallas Cowboy and now works on ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Brady won seven Super Bowls but the Fox announcer has been told that this game will feel different to any other
‘Preparation… was always the key for me as a player, it’s the key for me as a broadcaster. The more prepared I am, the better I feel about knowing both teams,’ Aikman told Sports Illustrated.
Tom Brady will call his first ever Super Bowl when the Chiefs face the Eagles in New Orleans
‘When you call a preseason game, it’s a different broadcast than when you call a regular season game. When you call a postseason game, it’s a different broadcast than a regular season game.
‘And when you call a Super Bowl, it’s different than any other game you would call as well.
Brady has not escaped criticism during his first year in the booth. He left many fans furious back in October when he used the word ‘spaz’ to describe Josh Allen.
‘For anyone who’s played in a Super Bowl, to say “Well the Super Bowl is just like any other game” they’ve not played in it. Because it’s not,’ Aikman continued.
‘As soon as you win the championship game, you know that Super Bowl is unlike any other game that you’ll play in. And the same is true as a broadcaster. The entire day is different.
‘When you first do your hit on the pregame or even right before you go on-air, the timing is very different. The halftime is very different. But eventually, like it does as a player, things settle in.
‘You’re ramped up to begin, there’s a lot of adrenaline, a lot of emotion and you just try to let the game unfold and ease into it.’
