Tony Romo passed the Twitter test, so by the standard of not being crapped on by social media, he had a pretty good debut in the broadcast booth. CBS’ high-profile replacement was a massive upgrade over Phil Simms, clearing a low bar.
It’s nice to be loved by Twitter and be better than TV’s worst color commentator, but his most impressive feat was predicting the future, one play at a time.
He calls a safety blitz in the second quarter. In the fourth quarter, he pegged a run to the left. He called audibles, explained the rationale for fourth-down thinking and walked us through why the Raiders should’ve taken timeouts on defense at the end of the first half (so the offense would have more time).
And in between all that, he hollered about Marshawn Lynch, just like the rest of us!
A greatest hits reel:
And there’s even more.
Tony Romo's going to be so good at this. pic.twitter.com/uCj4cxomJX
— Jack Fritz (@Jack_Fritz34) September 11, 2017
With most color guys, what you’re getting is a retelling of what just happened on the field. The better ones can usually make it interesting and accessible to fans at home.
Romo told you what coaches and players were seeing and thinking.
None of this happens by accident. Romo still has a proximity to the game; it hasn’t even been a year since he was holding a clipboard for Dak Prescott. He’s played against most of the players and teams and coaches that he’ll watch from the booth.
Like he said during the broadcast, he’s “seen football for 14 years.” The insight that comes with that was on display.
His cadence isn’t as practiced as his more experienced broadcasters. That will come with time. But I’ll gladly trade an announcer talking too fast as long as there’s something worth listening to coming out of his mouth.