Tony Romo’s performance during his final broadcast of the season Sunday encapsulated all of his shortcomings: constantly shouting at the viewer, offering inane analysis, struggling to make sense. Each week during the playoffs, he reached a new low.
CBS, which signed Romo to a gargantuan 10-year, $180 million deal prior to the 2020 season, must be experiencing buyer’s remorse.
why is Tony Romo so bad now?
The Chiefs’ epic 23-20 win over the Bengals in the AFC Championship produced no shortage of incredible moments. Sadly, Romo seemingly matched each big play with a malapropism or loud noises.
Folks, the “wizard is still … wizardry.”
Ripping Romo is now a cottage industry, with scores of NFL fans trashing him on Twitter during each telecast. Without fail, Romo is always trending. It’s seldom for a good reason.
When Romo started in the booth, he coupled his excitement with clairvoyance. Yes, there was a lot of yelling, but there was also insight.
Now, we just get calls like this: “OH MY GOSH!!! WOW!!! HUGE PLAY!!!”
After Joe Burrow threw a huge interception midway through the fourth quarter, Romo said the following: “GAME-CHANGING, GAME-SAVING, SEASON … EVERYTHING IS ON THE LINE! YOU NEED PEOPLE TO DO STUFF!”
Incredible.
The fourth quarter was full of officiating blunders; yet, Romo failed to offer any real critiques of the referees. He did, however, appear to nearly spout a racial epithet. Late in the game, Patrick Mahomes connected with running back Isiah Pacheco, who broke free from multiple Bengals defenders for a 16-yard gain out of the backfield.
When the replay was shown, Romo said “YOU’VE GOT THREE N … RIGHT THERE YOU’VE GOT YOUR BEST TACKLING TEAM! THEY DON’T MISS TACKLES.”
An apparent rare moment of restraint may have saved Romo’s announcing career.
At the start of his run with CBS, Romo was just one year removed from his playing days, so he possessed first-hand knowledge of most players and coaches. As a result, he was able to easily identify schemes, and thus, predict the action. His high point came during the 2019 AFC Championship between the Patriots and Chiefs, in which he called nearly all of Tom Brady’s game-winning throws to Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman before they happened.
It’s hard to believe the analyst who shattered fans’ eardrums Sunday is the same person. It’s clear that Romo doesn’t study, or even pay attention to the pregame chatter.
After Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker nailed the game-winning field goal, Travis Kelce raced onto the field and and exclaimed, “Burrowhead my a—!”
The taunt was an obvious reference to the Bengals referring to Arrowhead Stadium as “Burrowhead,” given their success in Kansas City.
But Romo didn’t catch that. He wondered aloud whether Kelce was referring to “Burrowland.”
“It’s not ‘Burrowland,’ he said? It’s Arrowhead," offered Romo.
Nothing gets past this guy.