‘Nine years more’: Tom BRADYS FOX -Told thinks he’s on TV in the long term

Richie Zyontz and Rich Russo have been in more Super Bowls than Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes and Terry Bradshaw combined.

While their names may not be known for most NFL households, the couple will be just as important Sunday for the viewers of the Super Bowl Lix as play-by-play advertisement Kevin Burkhardt and analyst Brady.

Zyontz is the main manufacturer of FOX’s NFL coverage, and this will be the eighth Super Bowl, where he has served as the game’s main producer. He has been part of 14 Super Bowls during his professional career for FOX and CBS.

Russo is the main director of FOX’s NFL cover. This will be his sixth Super Bowl in the Main Management Chair and his 17th Super Bowl gathered in a production capacity.

In the first interview they have done this NFL season, the two ended up My sports media podcast This week for a discussion that included their close-wing perspective on Brady this season, plus a few questions about how they will cover Taylor Swift’s presence.

The interview is edited for length and clarity.

Deitsch: Don Yee’s, Tom’s long -time agent, Sports Business Journal told that Tom will be in the booth throughout his contract. If I had to ask you if you think Tom is long -lasting for this profession, what would you tell me?

Zyontz: I tell you he does it for nine years more because we have talked about it. He really enjoys this. He really digs this concert. I sat with him back for a while and we just talked about how our meetings are so fun to be a part of and how good the whole experience works together.

I said I hope we get this done for a long time. He basically said with a look that tells me that there is sincerity about it: nine years to.

Russo: TB has said exactly the same thing. He loves to do this and he really enjoys it. He said to me: I can’t wait for several years. I can’t wait to continue to do this for a long time.

I really think so. I see no reason why he wouldn’t make the nine years more on his contract and maybe even longer, who knows?

Tell me where Tom Brady is like a TV company right now from the producer and instructor perspective.

Zyontz: Tom Brady, as you would expect, is determined to be big for what he does. He undertook a new business that was a scary task for someone who had never done so. He was eager from day one to improve and get better, good, very good and big. He takes criticism as well as anyone I’ve ever worked with.

Just as you could expect from Tom when he was a player, he prepares himself like a madman. He has come to the point where I would put his job up against someone who does.

I think he has improved every week and I think the big improvement for Tom will come between year one and year two.

Russo: Forget his Super Bowls and all his recognitions and MVPs, the one thing about him is that he is just an amazing person. I mean he’s an incredible teammate. He loves the crew. You forget that this is his first year. He takes criticism. He just wants to make it better and better.

I think the big thing is that he teaches the game and it has been a great experience to see the development of how he has grown.

Can you give me an example of Tom taking criticism and how it manifested itself?

Zyontz: Look, Tom can pick up the phone and get advice from anyone he wants in the industry. I think he took a lot of advice from people. It is difficult to have hard and fast rules in TV spreading because there are always variables.

At the beginning of the season, he got these games spiced with regard to our Saturday (Fox NFL) meetings and how he saw the game unfold.

I think where he fought early was to be able to get the important points at the right time. But he has really gotten better.

He got to know early, Don’t talk over snaps. Well, it’s true, don’t really talk through snaps, but there are plenty of times when it’s really worth for the analyst to talk through a snap if he proactively analyzes what he sees in the field as the ball is about to get snapped.

The important part of us was to explain that there are times when rules are difficult and fast, and there are times when they are not.

You can get in Tom’s ear at any time during the game and make a constructive criticism and, boom, he loves it. He will literally thank you for telling him that he did something not ideal.

How has the broadcast worked on the limitations of Brady?

Zyontz: Pretty easy to be honest with you. Things have changed a lot since John Madden’s time.

Movies are available to anyone and most of the analysts, this is where they get their information, between just talking to people they know and watching movies.

So that (the “Brady rules”) created a great story, interesting history, interesting conflict. It has not affected us at all. I have been aware of what is written. Much of it is wrongly informed. It has not affected us at all and it is not a line of crap.

How much from your perspective can Tom talk about functioning during a game?

Zyontz: It’s never come up. None of my bosses have ever said what he can and can’t do. Tom has never withdrawn on what he will say in terms of official.

Now we have discussed it sometimes, but I say the same thing to every analyst, and it is: As a knee-Prykk reaction, don’t just go to (Fox On-Air nfl Rules Expert) Mike Pereira for a comment, If you thought of a call.

I’ve heard him disagree with calls. He doesn’t get much salty about it. But he is allowed to criticize and no one has ever said anything different to me.

How verbal is brady when it comes to your Saturday meetings with on-air talent and key production people?

Russo: He is very verbal. I knew we had something when we did an exercise game with him, an UFL game. He was really studied on these teams and many people do not often know many of the players there.

We meet with Tom a little earlier before our Saturday production meeting, and he will review stories, things that he is looking for, things he sees on both sides of the ball. When we are all together, he goes through his thoughts, maybe some stories he thinks about.

How it relates to what we do is: Richie and I always think about what he is saying. How can we translate it into pictures? I am constantly mocking notes and things that he says on both teams about how it can relate to the visual that we can show to viewers.

Kevin Burkhardt probably did not get enough credit for being as selfless and as egophy as he has been with Greg Olsen and Tom Brady. How do you feel how he has affected Brady?

Zyontz: He is the key to it all. He is a guide, a conscience, a trusted friend. Tom puts his confidence in Kevin for his TV chops.

Kevin does not have almost the credit he deserves and he has been huge. He is a very knowledgeable young veteran guy. Not selfish. He doesn’t have an agenda. He just wants the broadcast to be good. He wants Tom to succeed.

Every commercial break, they exchange thoughts and ideas between the truck, us and them. It’s almost like a Madden- (Pat) Summerall Thing. Had they put John Madden with wine scully back then, would he have been John Madden? He wouldn’t.

How are you approaching to show Taylor Swift to this broadcast?

Zyontz: I am a dinosaur by nature, but it would be foolish to think that this is not a famous person whose presence makes the event so much greater.

Russo and I are pretty much on the same page. When appropriate, you show her. I don’t think there’s an over-under-it.

We were the first crew that had her on a game. I think network kind has found out not to exaggerate it recently. However, it’s a Super Bowl, and the Super Bowl is about stars. So even a dinosaur should give it a little.

Is there a designated camera operator focused on her?

Russo: We do not have a specific camera designated for Taylor Swift.

As Richie said what to do is when we find out where she sits, I will make the decision on which cameras are the best cameras to show her. We show her at the appropriate times because this is obviously an event. As I have said in the past, with Taylor Swift, with crowds, with owners, if you start showing Taylor Swift so many times, it loses the effect of the visual.

But if you see her at the right times, at the right moments, I think you do the viewer justice.

Zyontz: Comes from the instructor that had Alex Rodriguez Feeding Cameron Diaz Popcorn. (laughs)

Russo: It was the Super Bowl 45. I can remember Joe Bucks line. He said, “I’m sure Alex is really glad we’re putting a camera on him right in that moment.”

(Topfoto: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)