The AFC Championship was an instant classic, with Tom Brady leading the New England Patriots to an overtime win over the Kansas City Chiefs. But it may have been former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and CBS announcer Tony Romo who really stole the show.
Throughout the game, fans couldn’t help but notice that Romo was perfectly predicting what plays would be coming by reading pre-snap adjustments. It is something Romo has become known for during his short broadcasting career, but it was never as clear as it was down the final stretch of the game with everything on the line.
Romo was predicting virtually every key conversion for the Patriots as they drove down the field for a late go-ahead touchdown and the ultimate game-winner.
Look at this play, for example, where Rob Gronkowski goes in motion.
“Oh, they’re killing it. Usually means a motion and a run out wide to the right,” Romo said, as transcribed by Awful Announcing.
What happened? After the audible, Brady handed the ball to Sony Michel who ran behind the right side of the line into the endzone.
Then, we had this call with the Patriots trailing by four points with under a minute remaining where Romo pointed out one-on-one coverage on Rob Gronkowski on the outside.
Sure enough, it was a 25-yard gain.
In overtime, Romo once again singled out the coverage on Gronkowski.
“Gronk is out wide. Watch the top of the screen,” he said. “Watch the safety. If he (the safety) comes down, there’s a good chance he (Brady) is throwing out there.”
And finally, we had this gem on the game-winning touchdown:
It is hard not to just enjoy Romo’s enthusiasm in the booth, but the accuracy and knowledge he also brings. It’s something we haven’t seen in a while, and it may just help him go down as one of the best NFL commentators ever.
