With one word, New York Post media critic Andrew Marchand set off a firestorm around Tony Romo.
Intervention.
Even the most casual NFL viewer knows the deal with the ex-Cowboys quarterback. After roaring onto the broadcasting scene in 2017 and rapidly becoming the top analyst in the game, Romo has slipped.
And slipped.
And slipped.
Now, many of his performances alongside Jim Nantz are a shadow of what they were just a few years ago. He used to be able to predict plays before they happened, and now he'll go through stretches where he sounds lost.
Marchand said Wednesday on his podcast that CBS staged an intervention with Romo last offseason about his performance.
“Tony Romo needs to study more. He needs to be better prepared. As you move away from the sidelines, you need to do more work,” Marchand said. “I know CBS is aware of this. They tried an intervention last offseason. They knew, they anticipated this. That’s a credit to them, the people in charge there. But it has not gotten better.”
Interestingly, in the print version of this story, Marchand refers to it as “something of an intervention,” adding that CBS Sports personnel from Nantz to chairman Sean McManus were among those to pay Romo a visit.
Perhaps this is splitting hairs, but the word intervention isn’t in quotes in Marchand’s story, so it’s unclear if that was his verbiage entirely, or if that was how it was described by the sources he spoke to.
Whatever the case might be, CBS wasn’t too thrilled with how the meetings were labeled.
“To call this an intervention is a complete mischaracterization, we meet regularly with our on-air talent,” CBS Sports spokeswoman Jen Sabatelle told Marchand.
Obviously, CBS is not going to throw Romo under the bus, especially when they’re paying him such a lofty salary. And even if calling it an intervention might be a mischaracterization, that doesn't mean the topic of at least some of those meetings were not about his performance or, at the very least, how he could improve.
That was last offseason though, and things didn't change. We'll see if they take a new approach this offseason.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram