The most pleasant surprise of the NFL season so far has been Tony Romo’s Madden-esque color commentary. Hands down.
His weekly display of broadcasting greatness started when he predicted that Drew Brees would throw a touchdown pass to Brandon Coleman in the second quarter. His soothsaying was on display last week too. He’s watching the field, how defenses and offenses line up and presenting that information to you from the quarterback’s point of view. That’s just not what we’re expecting to get from a color guy; it’s a hundred times better.
Romo’s ability to demystify the game went to another level later on, when the Patriots had things well in hand against the Saints. What did he do that topped predicting plays? Oh, not much ... he only explained what the hell Bill Belichick was thinking.
The Patriots show blitz with the Saints inside the 10-yard line, putting five guys on the line ready to send them at the passer. What they usually do with this look is drop two of those guys back into coverage.
That’s the kind of thing opponents usually look for: trends that give them an idea what a team will do with certain looks in certain situations.
So why did the Patriots rush five there?
“Analytics. When they go through it next week, they’re going to want to say ‘on what percentage do they play man and rush five?’ He just added to that number right there,” Romo explained.
Belichick did that to screw with people. That’s it. He did that to make it even harder for an opponent to try and decipher what they’re going to do.
Listen to Romo break it down.
GET ON HIS LEVEL!
I’ve been to press conferences with reporters trying to get similar information out of Belichick and settling for monosyllabic answers.
Serious question: If Tony Romo reveals too many of Belichick’s secrets, how long until the Patriots file a complaint with the competition committee? OK, that’s probably not going to happen.
But we got a rare insight into the mind of Belichick thanks to Romo. Is there anything he can’t do in the broadcast booth?
Tony Romo is pretty darn good at his new job