Tom Brady had awkward Mike Pereira moment in Fox debut

Brady, who stood in the middle of the two, looked over at Pereira and put his fist out to greet him, but Pereira had already turned his head and didn’t see it.

“Good to see you, buddy,” Brady said. “Oh, don’t leave me hanging.”

The seven-time Super Bowl winner played it off well and laughed before Pereira finally gave him a fist bump back.

“There we go!” Brady said.

“It’s so good to be back with you guys,” Pereira added.

Pereira missed the 2023 season in the booth after needing back surgery.

“About six months ago, I posted that I was going to take a year off at Fox due to back surgery,” Pereira said in March.

“Five months ago, I had my back fused on seven levels, T11 to S1. Eight-and-a-half hours of surgery! In recovery, they asked me what my goals were. I gave them two. First was to be able to walk again. Second was I want to get back to work again.”

Brady performed well in his highly anticipated debut, which happened more than two years after the future Hall of Famer signed a 10-year deal worth a total of $375 million with Fox Sports.

Brady was careful with his transitions and dialogue with Burkhardt — and he came across as warm and confident in Dallas’ 33-17 victory over Cleveland.