Oct. 7, 2001, isn’t a date most NFL fans will remember, and if you’re a fan of the New England Patriots, it’s a day you’d want to forget. The Miami Dolphins routed the Patriots 30-10 that afternoon to drop New England to 1-3 on the season. The starting quarterback for New England in Miami? A 24-year-old named Tom Brady, who was making his second career start in the NFL.

Here is how The Boston Globe reviewed Brady’s day:

“It made for an especially difficult afternoon for novice quarterback Tom Brady. After being asked to do very little and doing that very well against the (Indianapolis) Colts, Brady played his age in his second pro start and second relief appearance for Drew Bledsoe, completing 12 of 24 passes for a mere 86 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.”

Things got better. The Patriots finished with an 11-5 record and a division title before winning Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans. The rest, as they say, is history.

Fast forward 23 years. On Sunday afternoon in Dallas, Brady made his second start as the lead analyst for Fox’s No. 1 NFL booth — and it went much better for him than that second career start as a quarterback did. Brady was sharp and enthusiastic early for viewers. He immediately offered insight into why the New Orleans Saints offense was unique and would be challenging for Dallas given the different personnel groupings and various motions used. Viewers saw that play out on the first drive for the Saints, as quarterback Derek Carr found wide receiver Chris Olave for a 39-yard completion.

“Nice route here by Olave,” Brady told viewers. “Again, play-action pass. He wasn’t involved early last week, and I’m sure they wanted to get him the ball early in this game. Derek standing there in a clean pocket. Look at that tight spiral. Just a flick of the wrist. Catch and run. What a way to start for the Saints!”

“The speed of these two WRs forces separation in this zone coverage.”@TomBrady breaks down the big pass from Derek Carr to Olave to set up the @Saints touchdown!

📺: FOX | @NFL pic.twitter.com/lG5BriNNfc

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 15, 2024

Brady personalized some stuff, and that was winning commentary, including how he felt about facing 35-year-old Saints linebacker Demario Davis when he was a player. He mocked himself for a viral moment last week — Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira leaving him hanging on a fist pump. He audibly groaned when Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott missed a third-quarter first-down pass in the flat that would have been a touchdown. He made a great point for viewers in the fourth quarter when Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb took an awful hit. Brady explained to the audience that a quarterback can reduce bone-crushing hits by controlling what the safety can do. He sounded much more comfortable on-air with play-by-play partner Kevin Burkhardt.

Perhaps most importantly: Fox’s top NFL crew got to describe much more offense than it did in the opening week. It was 35-16 New Orleans at the break, with the teams combining for 536 yards in the opening 30 minutes. The final was 44-19.

Something else that was good: Where Fox leaned heavily into Brady genuflecting during pregame and early in its game broadcast last week, viewers weren’t pounded over the head that it was The Tom Brady in the booth. (We know.) Executives should continue to remind on-air staff to treat Brady as if he’s been part of the group for years. It’s a much smarter message.

One thing that particularly helped Brady on Sunday was Fox had shorter ad breaks. That gave Brady some time coming back from commercials to explain via an all-22 look why something happened. For instance, here was Brady on Alvin Kamara’s 57-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter:

“This is a play that every team in the NFL has. They motion (Rashid) Shaheed across. (Trevon) Diggs goes man to man. They have been running this play action, hitting these chunks, so what do you do to complement that? You run a screen play off it. (Eric) Kendricks has him in man. You get the cover ’backer. Then it’s off to the races. How many times have we seen Kamara do that, just that home run ability.”

“You can’t make that mistake on CeeDee Lamb to overrun that tackle.”@TomBrady breaks down the long TD from Dak to CeeDee! pic.twitter.com/7sAPOY9dPS

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 15, 2024

On the downside: Brady is still coming to the replays a little late, he seems reticent to criticize coaches, and we still don’t get second-level analysis, which for my definition is teaching me something new about the game that I didn’t see if I was following the ball. For me, that’s the separator between being a good NFL analyst and a great one.

Brady’s third career start came Oct. 14, 2001, against the then-San Diego Chargers. He completed 33 of 54 passes for 364 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions and led New England from a late 10-point deficit to a 29-26 overtime win. That game, looked at in a historical perspective, was the turning point of the 2001 season for New England.

Brady will be in Dallas again next Sunday to call the Cowboys against the Baltimore Ravens, a late-afternoon game that will be heavily publicized by Fox and the NFL given the viewership potential. It will be the third Cowboys game for Brady in as many weeks, and that familiarity will help his comfort level. He also now has a successful game to build upon.

GO DEEPER

Tom Brady, in his NFL broadcast debut, was a man learning the job in real time

(Photo before Sunday’s game in Dallas: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)