Troy Aikman offers advice to Tom Brady ahead of first Super Bowl as broadcaster

Troy Aikman gave Tom Brady a tip or two ahead of his call of Super Bowl LIX.

Aikman, who called six prior Super Bowls while at FOX, discussed what he’d tell Brady about calling that game while on ‘SI Media With Jimmy Traina’ on Thursday. He first said that it, in fact, is not like every other game and therefore won’t be like any other broadcast that Brady has had so far.

“For anyone who’s played in a Super Bowl, to say that, ‘Well, yeah, it’s just like any other game’? They’ve not played in it because it’s not,” said Aikman. “As soon as you win the championship game, you know that that Super Bowl is unlike any other game you will every play in and the same is true as a broadcaster. Just 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. Everything is.”

“I do think, you know, 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 different than a regular season game. And, when you call a Super Bowl, it’s different than any other game you would call as well as far as what you’re talking about,” Aikman said. “I think you’ve got to be aware of that as well.”

With that, though, is the fact that Aikman says it’ll get easier for Brady as the game continues on considering the preparation that goes into it – much like if he were still a player playing in it on the field.

“Eventually, like it does as a player, things settle in. So 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,” Aikman said. “With that is preparation and I think that that 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, the storylines, each player. Who might emerge as a dark horse who’s all of a sudden the talk of the game? Do you know about that player? There’s a lot to it and just be mindful of that.”

Another piece of advice, similar to what a player would need, is that Aikman said for Brady keep everything as straightforward as he can. There’s no need to change what he has been doing over his first season working at that network.

“As a player, keep the week as normal as possible. It’s hard to do because you’ve got media obligations, you’re staying in a hotel room. But, if this was your Wednesday night and this is what you did at the facility and watched film then you’ve got to carry that over, whatever that routine is, and try to make it as normal as you possibly can,” said Aikman. “I would say the same thing about calling a Super Bowl.”

This is the last of the broadcasts of Brady’s first year at FOX. He has improved as the season has gone but, again, this game and their call of it won’t be the like the ones he has been a part of over the past few months.

One thing probably going for Brady, though, is his familiarity with the Super Bowl. He became synonymous with that game with ten appearances and seven wins while with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The broadcast of Super Bowl LIX will be unlike anything that Brady has done before. Still, while true, Aikman says give it enough time and he’ll be fine come kickoff between Kansas City and Philadelphia next weekend on FOX.