Troy Aikman was exasperated — and honest.
“I don’t like the call at all,” Aikman said.
Aikman, ESPN’s lead analyst for “Monday Night Football,” was reacting to a penalty during the most recent game broadcast. With the Buffalo Bills up 20-17 over the New York Jets and 9:32 left in the third quarter, Buffalo linebacker A.J. Epenesa was called for a roughing the passer penalty on Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a call even Rodgers described one day later as “a little ridiculous.”
After the on-field explanation of the call, Russell Yurk, a former NFL vice president of instant replay and administration and now ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” rules analyst, chimed in with the following: “Troy, the reason why they called it in this situation is because he does land with most or all of his body weight. It looks like he does try to get one hand to the side, but obviously the referee felt that he didn’t make enough of an attempt to brace it.”
Said Aikman, even more exasperated: “I got it. I don’t like it.”
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On and on the flags came last Monday, the teams combining for 22 penalties for 204 yards. With 2:47 left in the final quarter, Aikman had enough. He spoke for much of the audience: “It’s like a preseason game,” Aikman said.
Watching Aikman on Monday — he and play-by-play announcer Joe Buck have been sensational this season — he didn’t sugarcoat talking about the officials. Aikman praised lead official Adrian Hill’s crew when they correctly identified penalties. He provided criticism when he thought they missed something. He was unfiltered, he pulled no punches, and he kept the implicit agreement a sports television analyst is supposed to have with the audience: Be faithful to what you see.
Which brings us to Tom Brady.
On Tuesday, NFL team owners voted unanimously to grant Brady part ownership of the Las Vegas Raiders. Brady and Tom Wagner, the co-founder of Knighthead Capital Management, are believed to have purchased approximately 10 percent of the Raiders.
If Brady was merely a Hall of Famer-to-be extending his connection with the NFL through ownership, it would be a story but not one with implications for those watching the product. Brady, as the sports world knows, debuted in September as Fox’s No. 1 NFL analyst this season alongside play-by-play voice Kevin Burkhardt. Fox has the broadcast rights to the Super Bowl this year, which means Brady will call the league’s most important game. He is six games into a 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox Corp.
How can someone broadcast games while having a significant ownership stake in a franchise? Well, the NFL placed restrictions on Brady before the season including that he’s not allowed access to other teams’ facilities and practices and cannot attend broadcast production meetings. But here is the big one for this column’s purposes: As an owner, Brady is also not allowed to publicly criticize officials or other teams and could be fined or suspended if the league feels he breaks that policy.
“Tom’s been abiding by the issues that we’ve raised in the committee voluntarily since he began broadcasting, so that’s all been resolved,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters Tuesday. “It’s been followed very clearly, and everyone seems to be satisfied with that.”
The NFL confirmed the same Wednesday: “There have been no issues, and Tom has been a wonderful addition to NFL broadcasts,” said a league spokesperson.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talks with Fox analyst Tom Brady before Dallas’ game against the Cleveland Browns in Week 1, Brady’s regular-season debut as a broadcaster. (Jason Miller / Getty Images)
So that’s the league perspective. But what about viewers? There is an implicit agreement between those who broadcast games and the audience: We work for you, the viewer. Now, we also live in the real world, and there have long been conflicts of interest in sports media jobs. (Look no further than professional tennis, where coaches also serve as on-air analysts.) But predetermined restrictions on what you can say leave no workaround. The league has told a No. 1 NFL analyst there is a limit to what he can say as part of the NFL’s constitution and bylaws. Think about what would happen if there is a blown call that cost someone the Super Bowl. Maybe Brady would ignore the restrictions and just go off on the officials. Maybe he pulls some punches. The point is, the restriction changes everything.
Asked how Fox Sports viewed the broadcasting restraints for Brady and how they viewed Brady potentially being assigned Las Vegas games, Fox Sports declined comment.
It’s important to note Brady getting approved Tuesday does not change anything for Fox Sports. They have been working under these guidelines since the start of the season, and Fox Sports is pleased with Brady’s development and work. His next assignment is Sunday’s Super Bowl rematch between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers at 4:25 p.m. ET on Fox.
This week, The Athletic contacted some sports television producers and all acknowledged that the reaction of the league and owners is worth watching as Brady gets deeper into the season. All thought Brady could overcome any of the production meeting and practice restrictions — coaches and players will reach out to him — but the restrictions on commentary are the third rail.
The producers also noted something interesting: You will have people actively listening specifically for whether Brady says something critical about another franchise or officials. The converse, too. People will evaluate whether he is intentionally avoiding what is in front of him. That’s a mess for everyone.
“You have to at least know you have the freedom to share your opinion about officiating,” said a veteran NFL broadcaster who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “These are split-second decisions on air. You can’t ponder whether the league will be happy.”
I have written often in this column about Richie Zyontz and Rich Russo, the lead producer and director for Fox’s No. 1 NFL team. They are widely considered as good as it gets in sports production. Brady has improved over his six games — he’s not transformative by any means, and not nearly at Aikman’s level, but certainly a serviceable analyst — and he’s been aided by a lot of good people to put him in successful spots. He’s also received great reviews from behind-the-scenes staffers and on-air colleagues about truly integrating himself as part of a team.
But good production can only overcome so much. Missing production meetings is a small issue. It’s subconsciously self-censoring things because of the ownership situation. If I had to predict: The restrictions are unsustainable for the long haul, and Brady will depart the booth long before the end of the contract.
GO DEEPER
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(Top photo: Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)