What Tom Brady expects to happen in FOX debut at Sunday's Cowboys-Browns game

Tom Brady lit up NFL defenses over the course of his 23-year playing career still holds many of the NFL's all-time passing records. Brady isn't expecting a similar aerial attack in his first game in the broadcasting booth, though.

As the legendary quarterback prepares to call Sunday's Dallas Cowboys-Cleveland Browns game on FOX Sports' "America's Game of the Week" (4:25 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app), Brady shared on "The Herd" that he's bracing for the defenses to shine in the season-opening matchup.

"I think it's a defensive game," he told Colin Cowherd on Tuesday. "I think you got two great defenses. Coach [Mike] Zimmer is a huge addition to that Dallas defense. They've got a lot of the same players coming back on Dallas's defense. Cleveland does as well.

"Both offenses, they're not quite the run games they've had in the past due to some injuries. They've had some offensive line shuffling going around on both teams."

Both Dallas and Cleveland had performances from their defenses in the 2023 season that played big roles in those respective teams reaching the playoffs. The Cowboys ranked fifth in yards allowed (299.7 per game) and in scoring (18.5 points allowed per game), though that was with Dan Quinn running the defense. As Brady mentioned, they hired Zimmer to replace Quinn after the latter left to become the head coach of the Washington Commanders in the offseason. 

Still, the Cowboys' defense is still expected to play at a high level. Outside linebacker Micah Parsons is arguably the best non-quarterback player in football and is the betting favorite for Defensive Player of the Year after recording 14 sacks last season. They also return standout defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and welcome back cornerback