Erin Andrews opened up on Monday about the challenges she faced leading up to Week 1 of the NFL season. In a candid conversation with fellow sportscaster Charissa Thompson on their Calm Down podcast, Andrews reflected on her experience covering Sunday’s Browns-Cowboys opener in Cleveland with her Fox Sports colleagues, including Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady, who was making his broadcast debut.
At 46, Andrews is a veteran sideline reporter, but she admitted that she didn’t feel fully in her groove as Week 1 approached, citing a number of personal and professional challenges. “It was a lot because it’s Week 1, and for some reason, I was talking to my dad, I was talking to you—[Charissa] you were picking me up off the floor—just have a lot going on,” Andrews said. “For some reason, I didn’t feel like Stella had her groove. I was really struggling in the confidence area of the show.”
While Andrews is typically known for her poise on air, she shared that her struggles weren’t related to the game itself but rather stemmed from pressures at home. “I couldn’t sleep for like two days leading up to it,” she revealed, adding that her lack of rest had little to do with the broadcast. “It wasn’t the show, it was just dealing with a lot of stuff going on with the baby [son Mack], our house, our air conditioner crapped the bed the night before the game. It’s 80 degrees inside our house and I’ve got a baby and a dog. It was just a lot.”
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The WEAR by Erin Andrews founder also spoke about a conversation with her father, during which they discussed how to persevere through adversity. She mentioned finding strength in the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s song, “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” a sentiment that resonated with her as she prepared to face the pressures of live television.
Despite the rough start, Andrews found her rhythm once she hit the field. “But then, once we started walking around for pregame, it was like, I’m back, I’m back,” she said, noting that being in her element on the sidelines helped her regain her confidence.
As part of the Fox Sports crew since 2012, Andrews has plenty of experience navigating the demands of live broadcasts, but this year came with a new challenge: welcoming Tom Brady into the team as a first-time analyst. Andrews recounted a small blunder during rehearsal with Brady before the game, explaining how nerves got the best of her during a trial run. “We were doing a quick rehearsal with Tom because we hadn’t done it before where they throw it down to me… I completely butchered the s–t out of my open,” Andrews said, joking that she wanted to make Brady feel better about his own debut. “I go, see Tom Brady, you’re not the only one that struggles sometimes, not that he was struggling, but I was trying to make him feel better.”
Brady, who signed a massive 10-year, $375 million contract with Fox in May 2022, brought a fresh perspective to the team’s coverage. Andrews shared how much she enjoyed hearing Brady’s insights during their pregame meetings. “I’ve known him for a while, I’ve gotten to hang out with him a lot off the field… but my favorite thing about hanging out with him is his stories and the stuff he tells us, his insight, what it looks like behind the scenes, also his opinion on stuff,” she said.
Brady’s understanding of the players’ mental state heading into Week 1 also resonated with Andrews. “He was saying there’s a lot of unknowns in the very first week of the season, but there’s also a lot of anxiety… this is the time of year where guys have the most anxiety because they’re just like, I don’t know what’s going to happen, I don’t know how we’re going to look.”
Despite the personal and professional hurdles Andrews faced, the game itself was a one-sided affair, with the Cowboys securing a dominant 33-17 victory over the Browns.
As the season kicks off, Andrews and the Fox team will head to Arlington next week for the Cowboys’ home opener against the New Orleans Saints, who are coming off a blowout 47-10 win over the Carolina Panthers.
While Andrews may have faced some initial difficulties, her resilience and ability to find her groove on game day exemplify why she remains one of the most respected figures in sports broadcasting.
