Tom Brady wasn’t trying to criticize Daniel Jones.
He later acknowledged that he had been “a little bit” nasty toward the Giants quarterback.
Brady, 47, was speaking onstage with ESPN host Stephen A. Smith on the opening night of Fanatics Fest at the Javits Center in Manhattan on Friday when the topic of how to call a quarterback’s miss in the broadcast booth came up, and Jones caught on.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion, who joins Kevin Burkhart as Fox NFL’s No. 1 broadcast team this season, said he isn’t as harsh on quarterbacks talking on TV as he is on himself when they throw interceptions for opposing teams.
“I’d walk up to the sideline and say, ‘You’re the worst quarterback in the world. How could you throw that? That’s awful!'” Asked why Coach Smith takes a cautious approach, Brady said.
“But I don’t want to be too critical, because in some ways I don’t know exactly what went wrong with that play.”
Brady then began to explain the hypothesis behind his argument, using the Giants’ point guard as an example.
“Let’s say Daniel Jones throws an interception,” Brady said to a mixture of laughs, boos and groans from the New York crowd.
“I didn’t mean to say it that way. I wasn’t criticizing Daniel Jones,” Brady added. “Maybe I was a little bit critical.”
Jones, 27, is in his sixth season with the Giants and it looks like it could be a make-or-break year for the quarterback.
After signing a four-year, $160 million contract last March, Jones had an injury-plagued 2023-24 season in which he played in just six games due to a neck injury and a torn ACL, throwing just two touchdowns and six interceptions.
As shown on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” earlier this summer, the Giants were looking to move up in the draft to select either Drake May or Jayden Daniels.
However, in the end, the trade did not come to fruition and Jones remained the No. 1 quarterback.
And on Saturday, nine months after undergoing knee surgery, Jones is scheduled to play in the Giants’ second preseason game against the Texans.
Fox has already previewed some of its “America’s Game of the Week” contests.And it seems likely that Brady will call Jones and the Giants during the regular season for their Week 13 Thanksgiving matchup against the Cowboys.
