Tom Brady’s work in FOX’s broadcast booth has drawn plenty of reaction this season. This week, it turned into a debate between Bill O’Reilly and longtime sports commentator Stephen A. Smith on O’Reilly’s podcast, “We’ll Do It LIVE!”

O’Reilly argued that Brady, a Fox analyst and Las Vegas Raiders part owner, knows far more than he tells viewers. Smith pushed back by pointing to a recent broadcast in which, he said, Brady went after a player on air, then told O’Reilly that he holds back plenty himself.

Stephen A. Smith Turns the Tables on Bill O’Reilly

According to O’Reilly, Brady knows who is loafing, who can’t cover whom, and who is making mistakes on the field, but he keeps it to himself.

“Tom Brady could tell you, all right, 100% more than he’s telling you,” O’Reilly said. “He knows who’s jaking it out there, who can’t cover whom, who’s screwing up, and he never says it.”

Smith wasn’t buying it: “Last week, Tom Brady was on the air talking about how lost somebody was in coverage. He said, ‘Are you trying to help the other team win?’ He was very, very critical of them. And Bill O’Reilly, respectfully, you don’t have a right to say that, because we know, you know a gazillion times more than you say.”

“Now, that doesn’t mean that you’re not saying what needs to be said,” Smith added. “What I’m saying to you is I’ve been around you long enough where I have seen you, as edified as you are, as connected as you are, refrain from saying all that you know. You’ve been in this business longer than most of us. You’ve been in this business longer than us. You know that comes with the territory. Stop that.”

Smith’s point also gets at the balance Brady has to strike in the booth. Brady undoubtedly sees things most viewers,and even many analysts, do not, but that does not mean he has to unload every observation he has in real time.

Part of being an effective broadcaster is deciding which details help explain the game and which ones are better left unsaid. Brady can still be critical, as he has shown this season, without turning every mistake into a public indictment of a player.

Smith’s response to O’Reilly underscores that restraint is not the same thing as being dishonest or unwilling to criticize; sometimes it is simply part of doing the job well.

Brady has caught flak this season for comments about a quarterback. During Fox’s Week 5 broadcast of San Francisco’s 32-29 win over Seattle on Oct. 11, Brady suggested that Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold exaggerated his reaction to a late hit by Dre Greenlaw. Greenlaw was later ejected for headbutting Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV during the ensuing confrontation.

Fox announced Brady’s broadcasting role before he retired, and the seven-time Super Bowl champion later joined the network on a reported 10-year, $375 million deal.

His move into the booth continued a familiar trend of former NFL quarterbacks becoming prominent broadcasters after their playing careers. For Atlanta Falcons fans, though, some of those names come with plenty of unpleasant history, something Brady was quick to joke about while calling Atlanta’s Week 6 matchup against the Chicago Bears.

“I kind of feel bad for these fans when they tune into a game on Fox. They have me, or [Drew] Brees, or Greg Olsen. So kind of pick your poison,” Brady said.

The joke landed because each has played a part in Atlanta’s painful moments over the years, with Brady’s connection obviously standing above the rest. And the afternoon did not get much easier for Falcons fans, as Atlanta went on to lose to Chicago 31-23.