Tom Brady had his long-awaited debut as an announcer for Fox Sports with its ups and downs.

Fox signed Brady to a 10-year, $375 million contract two years ago, and the sports world waited with bated breath to see how he would perform in the studio.

The game ended in failure, with the Cowboys winning 33-17, a game that was effectively over at halftime. So we’ll have to wait at least another week to judge how Brady handles the really big moments.

Television networks love the exposure of former players and coaches who have gone on to have Hall of Fame careers and title wins.

Fox makes a special point of this for NFL analysts, featuring former commentators like John Madden and Troy Aikman, plus active studio talent like Terry Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson, Howie Long, Rob Gronkowski and Michael Strahan.

Brady is the most successful quarterback in NFL history, with seven Super Bowl championships for the Patriots and Buccaneers.

When Fox gave the pre-game introduction with him and play-by-play partner Kevin Burkhardt, it immediately felt like an important game.

Brady seemed to realize that he needed to give the game some air. He followed the advice of Phil Simms, the former top CBS analyst and a Giants great. He told The Post last week that no one has ever complained about a commentator not talking enough.

At key moments, Brady paused to let viewers hear how the crowd reacted at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland before giving his opinion.

Crucially, he summed up his thoughts succinctly and handed the proverbial baton back to Burkhardt before it was time to announce new plays.

Brady came across as warm, with a gracious tone and a balance between enthusiasm for the action on the field while remaining relaxed and at ease.

He had a sense of humor and criticized Browns star pass rusher Myles Garrett for being offside in the second quarter.

“You don’t have to go that far — you’ve already knocked everybody off the line with that little burst move you have,” Brady said with a grin.

He was at his strongest when speaking from personal experience about the “mental gymnastics” that Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer put quarterbacks through while Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson spent the entire game bewildered and pressured by a relentless pass rush.

One area where he could still improve was evident in the many times he paused in the middle of a sentence to collect his thoughts.

The most fluent presenters speak in perfectly formed paragraphs, with pauses perfectly placed between punctuation marks, like a newscaster reading from a script.

Brady seemed to act like an idiot in the sense that he knows people are waiting for him to be hypercritical, but he never pulled out sharp knives on the Browns players or coaches who were being beaten up.

He could have been much tougher on Watson, whom the Browns paid $230 million, fully guaranteed, after trading three first-round picks to acquire him from the Texans in 2022.

If Brady had completed 24 of 45 passes for 169 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in a season opener lost by 16 points, you can bet he would have been very hard on himself.

Brady also sometimes leaned on the announcer’s clichés. During a play in which the Browns lost yardage, he noted that it’s harder to move forward when you’ve gone backward.

Brady began his broadcasting career with a fair amount of pressure, not only because of his pedigree and record salary, but also because he had to replace Greg Olsen as Fox’s lead analyst.

Olsen, who was demoted to the second announcing team, has excelled in that role since replacing Troy Aikman in 2022.

While many industry observers argue that announcers have no impact on ratings, Fox was home to the crew — Madden and Pat Summerall — who have been cited as an exception over the years, with fans sticking around to hear them, even during big performances.

The network hopes that Brady, with his track record and high Q score among casual viewers, can give them a little boost in matches like Sunday’s squash match.