Behind the Scenes with FOX's NFL crew: Tom Brady is off and running in the booth

By Richie Zyontz
FOX NFL Lead Producer

Editor's Note: Richie Zyontz has been an NFL producer for FOX since 1994 and is in his 23rd season as the lead producer. He has more than 40 years of experience covering the league and has produced seven Super Bowls. Throughout the 2024 NFL season, he is providing an inside look as FOX's new No. 1 NFL team, including NFL legend Tom Brady, makes its journey toward Super Bowl LIX. Read more behind-the-scenes stories from Richie Zyontz here .

At our first offseason meeting at his Florida home, Tom Brady said something quite interesting.

While munching on steak tacos with very healthy trimmings, Brady told us how simple Bill Belichick made the game for his players. That seemed like a revelation to those of us on the outside who regard the ‘hoodie’ as a football savant perpetually coaching like it’s three-dimensional chess. 

Simple is good. It applies to most professions, especially broadcasting. An NFL game is a fast-moving, highly coordinated effort, where seconds feel like minutes to those of us responsible for its choreography. So when Brady mentioned "simple," it really resonated as we started to strategize about Tom’s first year as FOX’s lead analyst.

[Related: More from Tom Brady | More from Richie Zyontz ]

We would avoid a laundry list of do’s and don’ts. That creates confusion and a cluttered mind — for the analyst and the producer. Tom had already reached out to all the big names in sports and sports television. I can only imagine the names floating around in his contacts list. When he gets to the J’s he comes up with Michael Jordan. When I go to mine I come up with Jersey Mikes.

But all those outside conversations landed on the same advice — be