Some football fans are ready to hit the mute button on Tony Romo’s commentary.
Romo is getting roasted over his analysis during CBS’s broadcast of the Bills-Bengals AFC Divisional Round game on Sunday.
The former Cowboys quarterback, who called the game with Jim Nantz, sounded hesitant about plays and filled in awkward gaps with silent pauses, grunt noises and other gestures during the broadcast. One viral moment included Romo describing the Bills’ quarterback sneak strategy as “a little tush push” after wideout Gabe Davis used both hands to push Josh Allen’s backside forward.
“Tony Romo is the college kid who didn’t crack a book all semester but his sure-fire oral exam strategy is to smother the professor with enthusiasm, charm, bluster and every possible answer,” ESPN senior writer Don Van Natta Jr. tweeted.
When Nantz asked him about Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ high-ankle sprain he sustained in Saturday’s Divisional Round win over the Jaguars, Romo stood in silence for a few seconds and looked like he was chewing something.
At one point, when Josh Allen failed to connect with receiver Stefon Diggs in the end zone, Romo said, “It’s a perfectly thrown ball, but it’s a little wide.”
In response to his commentary, Awful Announcing tweeted: “Tony Romo, expanding the meaning of ‘perfectly.'”
Other people shared tweets about Romo’s color commentary falling flat, with another person writing, “TV’s should be required to have a ‘mute Tony Romo’ button on all remotes. This guy is exhausting.”
Romo was the toast of the sports broadcasting business after he started with CBS in 2017. In February 2020, CBS signed Romo to a 10-year, $180 million deal, marking the largest contract in sportscasting history. The criticism has grown in recent years.
The Post’s Andrew Marchand explained Romo’s and Nantz’s disconnect on a recent episode of his “Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast.”
“This is an issue, it’s kind of gibberish,” Marchand said. “They’re not on the same, it sounds like they’re doing two different broadcasts. [Romo] interrupts Nantz… when Nantz is trying to make his final call at the end of the game… The biggest issue is that they’re not together.”