Who Needs Medical People When You Have Tony Romo

[brdmaverick]

I thought Romo was fantastic as well. He was actually refreshing.

 

[BTTA]

I've heard this applied to baseball, but it applies to football too. The lead broadcaster gets better as he gains more experience, learns the flow of the game, etc. On the other hand, the color man's key points are technical and strategic in nature. He spends year 1 understanding how broadcasting works, but his next 10 years afterwards are his best as he's able to apply his experience. After that though, he gets old - he's out of the loop on new strategies, and he starts getting crotchety ("these players aren't as good as when I played, they don't respect the game"). Then they start to spout cliches and become worthless. It happened to Phil Simms (he was actually good in the 1990s), it happened to Madden, it happened to Tim McCarver (was actually great in the 1980s), and it happened to Remy.

Because of this post, I actually feel smarter after reading the Board this morning.

 

[jah]

I think people give Romo too much credit. Sometimes he is fantastic and others he is awful. He does give more insight that most other analysts at times p, but I think he can have a tendency to over analyze things and run on and on.

I think people have such an easy grading curve after years of Phil Simms, Dan Foutes, and Dan Dumbledorf.

I fully acknowledge that I have incredibly low standards for commentary at this point.

 

[sean10mm]

Why do people hate Romo for no reason? He was a very good quarterback wasted on a bad team and he's a very good analyst.

Exactly.

I know Pats fans tend to heap scorn on any QB who isn't Brady, but Romo was a really good player stuck on a team run by your drunk old uncle and coached by a string of natural born losers once Parcells bailed.

Also we're working hard to maintain our rep as the thinnest-skinned fanbase in sports history if we're going to cry that Romo suggested another back injury for Gronk would be bad. OH MY GOODNESS I AM SCANDALIZED GOOD SIR!

 

[Username]

I thoroughly enjoyed Romo's commentary. He kept it about the game and the X's and O's rather than delighting the viewers with whimsical tales about conversations with various players and coaches or rambling reminiscing about his own career. Despite Jim Nantz repeatedly trying to lead him on a meander down both those paths on numerous occasions. If it had been Phil Simms, and I actually don't mind Simms, one of those moments would've gone like this...

"We got you on secret camera eating desserts Phil, looks like that diet is gone out the window"

"Well, let me tell you Jim, I was at that diner with our producer and our cameraman Pete, great guy Pete, real salt of the earth guy, big 49ers fan, real excited about the new season. Anyway, so they brought out this dessert and the owner said if I could eat the whole thing our dinner was on the house. And man, it was a big dinner. Those guys know how to cook a steak..."

"Touchdown Patriots"

"Yeah, Brady caught em sleeping there. So this dessert, I don't know what you'd call it, it was all ice cream, fresh cream, chopped nuts, chocolate sauce, fruit, man it was huge. I wasn't sure I could make it but you know, any given sundae...."

"Gostkowski makes the extra point"

"I had a coach back in high school who used to make us sundaes after each workout and he used to say.."

*cuts to commercials*

 

[Rob0729]

Boomer Esiason kinda implied that Romo is kinda violating an unwritten rule when he was on Tucker and Rich. He said a lot of stuff Romo talked about on the air is stuff Boomer and other former QBs know, but it is kinda unwritten rule that you don't give away stuff before it happens and don't reveal stuff you witness at the walkthrough. He didn't say he really did anything wrong and that is the way he chooses to call games, but I think the difference between Romo and the rest is that the others pull their punches because of an understanding with the teams and Romo isn't.

The question is how will this affect things going forward? Will teams stop giving Romo access or will Romo start to pull back? Or will Romo help changed the rules of color commentating and color guys will start to share more like Romo?

Another thing floated in that interview is that Romo right now still has so much inside knowledge of other teams by studying tapes from his playing days and as he continues to get farther and farther away from the games that his insight will become more and more generic.

 

[Brit patriot]

Meh. Speculation is part of his job. He's pretty good at it. We fans speculate too. The color guy is kind of a stand-in for the fans. He does what we (try to) do, only presumably on the basis of greater insight and expertise. Maybe we're p----d that he's getting paid to do something we do for free!

There is some logic there haha.

I think I was stressed that we lost so many injuries and was getting livid some guy was sounding like he had got in a Delorean, come back, and knew we were screwed until after tampa, and for the rest of the season likely.

I would have liked more nuance, like 'if these are serious then the Patriots are screwed, rather than 'The Patriots are surely screwed'.

 

[TommyD4207]

Boomer Esiason kinda implied that Romo is kinda violating an unwritten rule when he was on Tucker and Rich. He said a lot of stuff Romo talked about on the air is stuff Boomer and other former QBs know, but it is kinda unwritten rule that you don't give away stuff before it happens and don't reveal stuff you witness at the walkthrough. He didn't say he really did anything wrong and that is the way he chooses to call games, but I think the difference between Romo and the rest is that the others pull their punches because of an understanding with the teams and Romo isn't.

The question is how will this affect things going forward? Will teams stop giving Romo access or will Romo start to pull back? Or will Romo help changed the rules of color commentating and color guys will start to share more like Romo?

Another thing floated in that interview is that Romo right now still has so much inside knowledge of other teams by studying tapes from his playing days and as he continues to get farther and farther away from the games that his insight will become more and more generic.

I think there's a reason that Romo is on CBS' #1 National Broadcast team, and Boomer's doing radio, and is in the studio with Simms.

Perhaps this is what CBS wants. And if it is, good on them.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

I don't mind Romo and thought he did a decent job but I am sure BB didn't run that play to "hide tendencies". It makes no sense.

Even if he's wrong, I thought it was a different and interesting idea. Different from the "Boy I tell ya" Phil Simmsism or the "we talked to Matt Patricia and he told us..." style from Collinsworth.

Romo's quality seems to be that the game is fresh in his mind. He's out there living the snaps, observing things like he may have talking in the QB room on a Monday or something. I wonder if that approach will last years, or as time passes and he gets further away from the game, he'll be forced to change.

 

[long distance]

There were moments when Romo was to Brady like Salieri to Mozart.
I was thankful. Should be a gift to Tom and fans..

 

[Rob0729]

I think there's a reason that Romo is on CBS' #1 National Broadcast team, and Boomer's doing radio, and is in the studio with Simms.

Perhaps this is what CBS wants. And if it is, good on them.

I tend to doubt that because they had no idea what Romo would bring to the table in that regard. I think it was more about Romo's Q rating than his ability when they made that decision. Romo hadn't done a game call once before being made part of the #1 team. He probably did some test runs for them commentating to taped games, but that doesn't really speak to what he would do in a live game.

 

[PatsDeb]

I thought he was fine. A breath of fresh air as some have said. His injury stuff seemed a little "applying my own personal experience to something I know nothing about-" ish, but other than that I thought he was ok and he was pro Pats, which always helps, LOL.

 

[yukon cornelius]

Romo's injury prognosticatons notwithstanding, I thought he was a breath of fresh air in the booth. Actually talking about coverages, diagnosing plays both after and *as* they happen. It was worlds better than anything I've heard in ages on a national broadcast.

agreed....liked romo

he talks from a QB/player's perspective, without coming off like a know it all douche, nor does he play up his 'hey, i played the game' schtick........he has a little aw shucks about him that i think is probably genuine, and he clearly knows the game.....

i'll keep the sound on with him in there

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Easy to be critical and I don't expect perfection from any announcer. But, Romo felt like a breath of fresh air compared to what we are used to getting.

Who, current analysts, would you rather hear from over Romo?

 

[yukon cornelius]

Boomer Esiason kinda implied that Romo is kinda violating an unwritten rule when he was on Tucker and Rich. He said a lot of stuff Romo talked about on the air is stuff Boomer and other former QBs know, but it is kinda unwritten rule that you don't give away stuff before it happens and don't reveal stuff you witness at the walkthrough. He didn't say he really did anything wrong and that is the way he chooses to call games, but I think the difference between Romo and the rest is that the others pull their punches because of an understanding with the teams and Romo isn't.

The question is how will this affect things going forward? Will teams stop giving Romo access or will Romo start to pull back? Or will Romo help changed the rules of color commentating and color guys will start to share more like Romo?

Another thing floated in that interview is that Romo right now still has so much inside knowledge of other teams by studying tapes from his playing days and as he continues to get farther and farther away from the games that his insight will become more and more generic.

could be.......I think Boomer is about the right age where things have passed him by; his commentary has always been amongst the better of the ex-players, but at this stage of his career he seems to come off as a little bitter, and I think he's started to believe his own hype.......I don't hear Boomer as much as I used to, but there might be a little bit of a perceived threat on his part, too......Boomer has been the best of the ex-players with good insight for a long time.....Romo might by stealing his thunder a little, and he won't go quietly into the good night......

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Ugh, that probably means we get Fouts next week against Houston. Against the Panthers at home it'll be one of the Fox crews.

 

[jmt57]

Ugh, that probably means we get Fouts next week against Houston. Against the Panthers at home it'll be one of the Fox crews.

CBS has the doubleheader in Week 3. That means that there #1 team (Nantz/Romo) will work the primary late game (Cincinnati at Green Bay). BTW, that game will be broadcast virtually everywhere, with the exception of a few places that get KC-Chargers (CA, CO, KS, OK, MO and Reno). Nashville gets blacked out.

Houston at New England is most likely to be considered CBS' top early game, which means that we do indeed get Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts. It still boggles my mind that they are considered to be CBS #2 crew. In my opinion both Kevin Harlan - Rich Gannon and Greg Gumbel - Trent Green are far superior.

While on the subject, for out of town fans this is what the preliminary broadcast area for the Pats-Texans game looks like, more or less east to west:

• New England (including CT)
• Northern Florida (Jacksonville and across the panhandle)
• Tennessee
• Alabama
• Mississippi
• Louisiana
• Arkansas
• Texas
• Oklahoma
• Arizona
• Los Angeles
• Oregon
• Washington
• Hawaii

Miami at NYJ will air in the rest of FL, NYC and Albany. Why CBS thinks people in Tampa still follow the Dolphins baffles me, but I digress....

Cleveland at Indy will air in Ohio (except Cincinnati), Indiana and western Kentucky.

Pittsburgh at Chicago will air in the rest of the east (except western NY), across to Iowa.

Philadelphia, Charlotte and Minneapolis are blacked out in the early CBS time slot.

Denver at Buffalo will air in western NY, Missouri, the Great Plains, Rockies and most of California (except LA).

The only late game on Fox is Seattle at Tennessee; that is what will be broadcast in Boston. Most of the US will get the Giants at Eagles. Shocking, I know, that the primary broadcast on Fox is an NFC East game.

 

[chasa]

as long as i never have to hear simms and fouts again im good.

 

[Deus Irae]

I didn't see a problem there. Speculation about a possible injury is routine.

 

[jah]

Boomer Esiason kinda implied that Romo is kinda violating an unwritten rule when he was on Tucker and Rich. He said a lot of stuff Romo talked about on the air is stuff Boomer and other former QBs know, but it is kinda unwritten rule that you don't give away stuff before it happens and don't reveal stuff you witness at the walkthrough. He didn't say he really did anything wrong and that is the way he chooses to call games, but I think the difference between Romo and the rest is that the others pull their punches because of an understanding with the teams and Romo isn't.

The question is how will this affect things going forward? Will teams stop giving Romo access or will Romo start to pull back? Or will Romo help changed the rules of color commentating and color guys will start to share more like Romo?

Another thing floated in that interview is that Romo right now still has so much inside knowledge of other teams by studying tapes from his playing days and as he continues to get farther and farther away from the games that his insight will become more and more generic.

Had some similar suspicions myself:

1) Could Romo be saying stuff he doesn't know he's not supposed to say?

2) Is he insightful now because he played so recently?

I think it's hilarious how big of a deal it is that a commentary guy finally isn't terrible.