🎤 Tom Brady’s career crisis

Good Morning, Boston.

👓 Jayson Tatum flexes the drip. LaDonna LaGuerre’s breakdowns of Celtics pre-game fits need to be a regular occurrence this season. Also, the new Jordan Tatum 3 “Zen” colorway he and his son, Deuce, unveiled at Friday’s win over the Brooklyn Nets is clean. Buy these for your favorite sneakerhead.

What’s on tap today:

• Pats pummel the Bears

• Celtics don’t fear the deer

• Return of the Mac (Jones)

Let’s get into it …

LEADING OFF

So you think you can talk sports?

Tom Brady’s broadcasting career is off to a shaky start. Ten weeks in, the early returns on Brady’s foray into sports media aren’t encouraging. Even Boston sports superfan Bill Simmons has panned the GOAT due to Brady’s wooden on-air personality and the advice he’s getting from FOX Sports producers. Add that to Brady’s heavy restrictions in the booth because of his ownership stake in the Raiders, and this partnership has meshed about as well as avocados and ice cream (though yesterday’s Bucs-49ers broadcast got better reviews).

Great players don’t always make great announcers. On paper, getting Brady’s legendary football mind and mentality on the air seems like a win as long as he could work through the early jitters. But his inability to leverage either of those traits into engaging content has been painful. In Simmons’ words: “This guy’s one of the greatest resources in football that we have, and they don’t tap into any of it.” Simply put: great players aren’t always great explainers of their sports. At least not without some practice.

But Boston has a strong history of players-turned-broadcasters. Brady’s struggles especially hurt because we’ve seen pro athletes from the area have excellent media careers.

• Red Sox All-Star Jerry Remy had a well-respected tenure as the team’s TV voice for 34 years.

• Former Patriots QB Scott Zolak has been New England’s radio analyst for games since 2012 — following in the footsteps of Gino Cappelletti.

• Ex-Celtics Cedric Maxwell and Brian Scalabrine have established themselves as radio and TV analysts for C’s broadcasts, respectively.

Even Brady’s old backup Brian Hoyer has gotten into the act with The Quick Snap podcast and Patriots postgame show on NBC Sports Boston.

Their common thread: they weren’t Hall-of-Famers. Unlike the Bradys of the world, role players like Scalabrine and Hoyer don't get the huge money deal Brady inked without setting foot in a booth. Furthermore, their knowledge of the game and communication skills were the reasons they had professional careers more than overwhelming talent, with backup QBs like Zolak and Hoyer often serving as unofficial coaches. Brady is interesting and newsworthy because of his name alone. Other less-successful players who thrive in media typically don’t get high-profile opportunities unless they’re really good.

Brady might make media companies think twice in the future. FOX Sports hoped Brady wouldn’t follow the same path as fellow future Hall-of-Fame QB Drew Brees, who flamed out at NBC Sports after one year as a football color analyst. Not unlike Brady, he simply didn’t bring much information or personality to the table. Perhaps networks will start to reevaluate the tradeoff between name-brand recognition and quality broadcasting after these highly publicized swings and misses. It might not have been the noise Brady intended to make, but it definitely could change the game.

🤔 Will Tom Brady stay in broadcasting after this year?

BOSTON SPORTS

Quick hits & headlines

🐻 The Patriots stomp the Bears on the road. Drake Maye won the duel of the highly drafted rookie QBs, and the Pats defense (nine sacks) embarrassed No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams in a stunning 19-3 win. It wasn’t a perfect day for Maye (184 passing yards, TD, INT), but he vastly outplayed a beleaguered Williams and a Bears offense that managed just 142 yards of offense. Next to Bears coach Matt Eberflus, Jerod Mayo looks like the second coming of Belichick himself. 

🍀 The Celtics stick it to Giannis Antetokounmpo. The “Greek Freak” thought it would be cool to troll Jaylen Brown with a handshake while Giannis’ Bucks were up in the first quarter. But Boston got its payback behind Jayson Tatum’s 31 points and Payton Pritchard’s 18 points off the bench, rallying for a 113-107 win over their Eastern Conference rivals. The Celtics improve to 9-2 while Milwaukee languishes at 2-8. You think the Bucks are regretting the trade that ended with Jrue Holiday landing in Boston? 

🤗 Linus Ullmark stops the Bruins in Boston return. The 2022-23 Vezina Trophy winner barely needed his A-game against his old team, given the Bruins had more giveaways (20) than shots on goal (15) — including zero shots in the third period. Meanwhile, Jeremy Swayman made 31 saves but couldn’t stop Brady Tkachuk’s overtime shot that lifted the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 win. In case you’re wondering: yes, the two friends did bring back their old goalie hug before the game. That’s all there was to feel good about after another setback for a 7-7-2 Bruins club.

BEYOND BOSTON

Out-of-town report

Mac Jones throws another game away.  The former Patriots QB scored a rushing TD on his first possession as the Jaguars’ starter this week. He then proceeded to turn back into a pumpkin and throw two INTs as Jacksonville lost, 12-7, to Minnesota. Some things never change.

Bill Belichick lauds Christian Gonzalez and Keion White. On one hand, it’s not shocking the ex-Patriots coach would name two of his former draft picks to his “All-Belichick” young stars team. On the other: he finally said nice things about the Patriots. So you take what you can get.

Chiefs stay undefeated in the most ridiculous way. Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes were all but a lock to lose their undefeated season — until they blocked Denver’s game-winning kick attempt on the final play of the afternoon. This must be what it was like for everyone else to watch the Brady-era Patriots.

THEY SAID IT, NOT ME

“Boston strong”

THE BEST THING I SAW IN SPORTS

Better luck next time, Caleb

🫢 Anfernee Jennings sons Caleb Williams. The enduring image from Sunday’s game: Williams peeling himself off the turf after another big hit from the Patriots, and the Pats linebacker helping the young QB up and patting him on the head. Hard to say if that’s more good sportsmanship or disrespectful, but it’s hilarious either way.

🗞 That’s a wrap. I’m going to pat my brother on the head like that when I beat him at cards this Thanksgiving.

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