I don’t know where Tony Romo got the idea that he’s this respected NFL announcing ambassador, but he needs to stop. Immediately. No one in their right mind is looking at CBS’s lead color commentator as this shining beacon of broadcasting light in 2024. These days, I’d venture to guess that very few view him as a leading example to follow.
In fact, from talking over Super Bowl-winning touchdowns to aimless live rambling that is often barely coherent, most pro football fans now probably (and rightfully) think the exact opposite of Romo in the booth.
Yet, here he is, opining about the legendary Tom Brady taking over as Fox’s top color analyst this fall. A morsel of self-awareness, please!
If you listen closely to the way Romo talks about Brady in a recent interview on CBS Mornings, you’d almost get the sense he doesn’t think the 7-time Super Bowl champion quarterback could supplant him as the most beloved modern NFL broadcaster.
It’s Romo’s not paying much of any attention to Brady’s debut and likely announcing ascendance.
“We all know Tom [Brady] well,” Romo said. “You gotta remember, Jim’s [Nantz] done the most Tom Brady football of anyone (in broadcasting) — literally over 100 games. I think it’s great. I think it’s great for the industry that people want to go into this position and these roles. I think you find that the NFL has that grab. This [quarterbacks becoming announcers] was not always that, but Troy Aikman, I felt like really started this.
“Now, it’s part of possibly an arc in your career. But Tom’s gonna do great. He’s working as hard as anybody.”
I understand Romo is trying to be classy here. I know he’s making a point about quarterbacks becoming more comfortable talking to fans every Sunday. That is a welcome development! And I know this is him mostly being magnanimous toward a future “competitor” like Brady. The nature of NFL broadcasting on CBS (which focuses on AFC matchups) and Fox (which centers on NFC duels) doesn’t really make Brady a rival to Romo, even if their networks are fighting over the same afternoon time slots on Sundays. The generally equal conference split makes this more of an apples-and-oranges comparison than we’d like to admit.
At the same time, Romo does understand he’s lost his mantel as The Guy Who Correctly Predicts Plays Before They Happen, right? Surely, he knows that his work announcing games has become rote at best and grating at worst? Right?
Someone like Brady might not technically be a competitor, but that’s definitely not how NFL fans will view this dynamic in the long run. Everyone reading this is old enough to remember the direct Greg Olsen comparisons. It’ll be the same line of thinking for Brady.
Look who's in the booth 👀@TomBrady is in the booth for the first time as a member of @FOXSports at the UFL Championship 👏
Tune in now on FOX pic.twitter.com/wLoWzShlgx
— United Football League (@TheUFL) June 16, 2024
If Brady’s awesome at the job for Fox — unfortunately, as much as it pains me to admit out loud in public, he probably will be — then he will be propped up by the football media landscape more than Romo ever was. It won’t be close. Because of Brady’s well-established, built-in playing resume, he can be so good at announcing that he might almost make the days of Romo offering insightful, worthwhile analysis seem like they never happened. And to be candid, that feels so long ago that I’m not sure it happened anymore myself.
Romo talking about how Brady working for Fox is excellent for the broadcast industry is him missing the mark on his own place in football. For cinephiles, it’s like Blockbuster praising Netflix for how it will revolutionize the DVD market. For you work-from-home 9-5ers, it’s like Skype giving Zoom some public shine for jumping into the video call space. For you history buffs out there, it’s like Napoleon Bonaparte telling British naval commander Horatio Nelson, “good job” for hamstringing his navy.
You get the idea.
Kudos to Romo for giving Brady some advice and helping him ease into a new, demanding job. I’m certain not many other people would’ve been nearly as kind in his position, and that’s the point.