Tony Romo didn’t want to be the guy known for predicting NFL plays before the snap. He didn’t care for the “Romostradamus” nickname. He wanted to be something more.
So instead he became the drunk uncle in the broadcast booth.
Romo, CBS’s star color commentator through the 2024 NFL Playoffs, didn’t give us the “I don’t know, Jim!” exclamations and random grunts endemic to his post-2021 calls, which is good. Instead, he got bizarrely existentialist, made the same Taylor Swift joke he always makes but never lands and generally occupied the void that usually belongs to the guy you wish you hadn’t invited over during Sunday night’s showdown between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs.
I’m sorry come again Tony Romo?? pic.twitter.com/48blDaX2xH
— Devan Kaney (@Devan_Kaney) January 22, 2024
In fairness, Romo brought his previous level of expertise to his play analysis. He pointed out pulling guards and pre-snap looks. And then, when there was a lull in the action, the dude got weird.
Tony Romo refers to Jason Kelce as Taylor Swift's brother-in-law.
Unless Tony knows something we don't, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are not married. But we can safely assume he REALLY wants it to happen. pic.twitter.com/OxfS85JlPq
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 22, 2024
And when there was action or a straight-up incredible play, uh, the dude got weird.
"This is a dime, not a donkey, by Josh Allen!" – Tony Romo
"What a throw!" – Jim Nantz https://t.co/kyCz0MSlSQ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 22, 2024
On one hand, Romo was fulfilling the “color” side of his color commentary role. On the other, it was kinda a lot, especially given the quality of the game at hand. Romo was trying to drop folksy witticisms on his audience like millenial Verne Lundquist, only while using expressions no person had ever used before.
Some folks loved it. Some loved to complain about it.
