“He’s Tom Brady, and I’m Kevin Burkhardt, and you’re an announcer, what do you think of that?” So began seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady’s debut on Fox Sports Sunday, a $375 million return to football that Fox had promoted — heavily — as Brady getting “back to work.”

“It’s been a journey,” Brady, microphone in hand and a big smile on his face, told Burkhardt, “but I love being your partner.” The two then dove into commentary on the game between the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns as viewers took to social media to comment on the former quarterback’s first day in the new job.

“Tom Brady hasn’t looked this uncomfortable since he faced the Giants in the Super Bowl,” he joked The AthleticsJake Ciely wrote a post on X, in which Brady’s debut unsurprisingly drew a flurry of jokes and criticism. Brady was trying to share his knowledge of the sport while making that knowledge clear and understandable for viewers who have never played in the NFL.

In a moment that captured Brady’s discomfort as he transitioned from effortless brilliance on the field to one where he was still learning the ropes of the live television game, Brady attempted a fist bump with Fox Sports rules analyst Mike Pereira, who initially seemed either unaware of Brady’s presence in the broadcast booth, or uninterested:

It’s never easy to make your first appearance in a new job, especially when you’re as famous as Brady. The new job not only involves providing insight and analysis into a live game, but also doing so while looking natural and completely at ease in front of the camera.

But Brady had barely begun when critics began to cheer. One viewer said the NFL legend was “absolutely awful in the booth,” while another said that “maybe someone should have listened to Tom Brady before they spent $300 million on him.”

Some critics seemed to think Brady lacks a classic broadcasting voice, while others slammed him for his analysis. “Tom Brady can’t seem to…form sentences that have a normal…cadence,” one viewer posted on X.

Another armchair quarterback summed up Brady’s debut — before halftime — this way: “I don’t want to overreact to Week 1, but Tom Brady is the worst commentator in the NFL.”

Others were willing to give Brady a chance, including NFL Network reporter Jane Slater, who said, “I like Tom Brady in the booth. He’s smart. He doesn’t push or shout with fake excitement. Let Kevin do the talking and then get in. Easy, intelligent conversation. Just my two cents.”