Veteran play-by-play man Jim Nantz will be joined in the CBS booth by retired Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who will offer color commentary with Tracy Wolfson reporting from the sidelines when the New Orleans Saints square off with the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
There aren’t many observers quicker on the draw than Romo, who has used his experience as an NFL signal-caller to identify teams’ plans and play calls in real time. His success has led to more former players earning broadcast work as commentators, including Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who has a job with NBC Sports waiting on him upon retirement.
And Romo should be pretty insightful. He’s remained friendly with Saints coach Sean Payton over the years — both alums of Eastern Illinois, Payton helped recruit Romo to Dallas a rookie free agent when he was the Cowboys’ quarterbacks coach. He even tried to pry Romo away after taking the Saints head coaching job, but his mentor Bill Parcells wasn’t interested in a trade.
“When the topic came up, Bill told me to have a warm glass of milk and take a nap on the couch. It was never seriously discussed,” Payton later told Jean-Jacques Taylor for ESPN.
It’ll be interesting to see what other anecdotes Romo brings up during the game from their time together in Dallas. But if this matchup lives up to its billing, he might be too busy keeping up with the action to cast a look to the past.
