We’re over a month into the 2023 NFL season, and we haven’t heard much from everyone’s “favorite” golden retriever football announcer, Tony Romo. After Travis Kelce slipped without any contact Sunday, Romo showed us he still has terrific object permanence. You just have to jingle your keys to get his attention sometimes.
As the Kansas City Chiefs tried to mount a late first-half drive against the Minnesota Vikings, Kelce caught a routine outlet pass and fell down without being touched. Before even seeing how Kelce himself reacted or letting the moment breathe, Romo immediately jumped to melodramatics and the worst possible conclusion — in turn, coloring how viewers at home would view it.
Even if it does turn out to be a serious ailment, Kelce did stand up and walk off under his own power. That makes Romo’s initial comment — and when he continued to double down as Kelce returned to the sideline with his helmet — very irresponsible.
Chiefs TE Travis Kelce limped off the field after an apparent injury on this play.
Hope he’s okay 🙏pic.twitter.com/OMsag59DFo
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 8, 2023
Look, football is a dangerous game that takes its toll on everyone who plays. The least a professional announcer can do is NOT speculate or add fuel to the fire before we know what happened with someone’s injury. They will more than likely be the person who gets to shape public opinion first, and they should take that platform seriously.
I know he won’t change anything about his “I don’t know!” approach to football announcing, but it’d be nice for Romo to take this critical message to heart, at least.