The Patriots Vs. Jaguars AFC Championship game was a great matchup with many great things to offer. There was the greatest QB of all time. A young, exciting, up-and-coming Jacksonville team, an exciting fourth quarter comeback, but as viewers watching from home, all of those things were greatly enhanced by something else- the commentary of Tony Romo.
The AFC championship game marked the end of Romo’s first season in the booth after being the franchise leader for the Dallas Cowboys for many years. After many questioned why CBS would give the number one job to a player with no previous experience in the booth, we now see what those CBS executives saw last summer.
Romo has been a polarizing figure throughout his entire professional career. His tenure with the Dallas Cowboys will not be remembered for having one of the highest career passer ratings of all time. Nor will he be remembered for all the fourth quarter come-backs he created contrary to the “chocker” label he carried throughout his career.
What Romo will be remembered for is for never bringing a Lombardi Trophy to Dallas where the expectations are always Super Bowl or bust, even if they’ve only won two playoff games in the last 20 years.
Regardless of how you feel about Tony Romo as a player though, you have to admit he is one hell of an analyst. Or you don’t. Some people hate his style. They hate the enthusiasm with which he announces the happenings on the field. They hate that he can explain how and why things are about to happen on the field. They hate the fact that he found so much success so early on. Most of these people are the same ones who think that Tony was a sub-par Quarterback in the league.
We call these people “haters”. It doesn’t matter how good Romo is or can become as an analyst, they refuse to relinquish their hate of the superstar QB. Let’s go over some reasons why Romo may already be a top five announcer in the NFL.
Reason #1
Romo brings a wealth of knowledge rivaled by very few, but along with that he also brings recent on the field experience. He know’s most of the players, coaches and schemes in the league very well, but even that may not be his greatest asset.
Reason #2
The reason why America has fallen in love with Romo this season is because he brings unrivaled enthusiasm to his play call! He brings the best energy and passion along with professionalism to his broadcast.
Reason #3
Romo is excellent at being able to combine all these things into his commentary like no one else in the sport. Does he tell you what’s going to happen before it happens? Sometimes. Does it rub some people the wrong way? yes.
Overall though, most of us enjoy it because it shows us what to look for and why. He’s also eager to tell us, as his audience about it, his boy-ish spirit comes out with every play and is very refreshing. There’s not many other commentators out there with commentary highlight videos on youtube, especially not rookie commentators.
Reason #4
Romo has already earned the respect of most of the NFL community, including the New England Patriots head coach, one Bill Belichick.
During an interview with Henry McKenna from Patriots Wire, the living legend head coach had this to say: “Very inquisitive guy with a good history of the game,” Belichick said. “He asks a lot of questions about when I was with Giants or the 70s or the 80s or Tom Landry and so forth. He’s pretty knowledgeable for a player that wasn’t in that era. He knows a lot about it. He’s obviously read and studied itHe sees a lot of things, a lot of fine points of defensive scheme or a play that I’d say a lot of guys that I talk to don’t. And (he) asks about those: ‘What was that guy reading on this? And why’d he do that? What was this guy’s job on this play?’ Something that was kind of subtle. He picks up on those things. He asks a lot of detailed, coaching, technical questions that you don’t get from a lot of those meetings. He’s good. I’ve enjoyed working with him.”
Any player or former player would be honored to be spoken so highly of from such a prominent figure in the league.
Reason #5
No matter how you feel about him, Romo is going to get better with time. The longer he spends in the booth, the more he’ll grow accustomed to the job and learn the small things that have made the great commentators so great. So here’s to Romo’s first season as an NFL commentator, may his voice stay high-pitched, his passion strong, his knowledge vast, and may we get a Romo commentated Super Bowl in the near future, because no matter what the haters say, that would be a win for everyone.
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