Tony Romo hasn’t had the greatest playoffs; why Jaws wasn’t on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Does CBS have a Tony Romo problem?

Five years ago, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback turned top NFL analyst was praised by fans and sports media pundits alike for his energetic and informative broadcasts. But in recent years Romo has ditched his play-predicting abilities (he was once dubbed “Romostradamus”) and morphed into a chatty broadcast companion with a growing tendency to state the obvious.

That trend continued Sunday during the Cincinnati Bengals’ 27-10 win against the Buffalo Bills. Multiple times, Romo boldly proclaimed that “Cincinnati was for real,” or that the Bengals were “here to stay.” It’s almost as if he forgot the team had won eight straight games coming into Sunday and made it to the Super Bowl last season after defeating Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in Kansas City.

A few Romo comments came across as Yogi Berra-ish. During the second half, here’s Romo’s call on a missed touchdown pass from Bills quarterback Josh Allen to wide receiver Stefon Diggs: “It’s a perfectly thrown ball, but it’s a little wide.”

Calling an NFL game is harder than it seems — these announcers are live with no safety net for over three hours, making them easy targets on social media. But it wasn’t just angry fans who pointed out issues with Romo Sunday.

“Tony Romo went from the best analyst to the worst almost as fast as Carson Wentz went from the best quarterback to the worst,” wrote Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski. “Romo has gone from insightful to captain obvious,” noted Wall Street Journal reporter Joe Flint, while senior ESPN writer Don Van Natta Jr. described Romo as “the college kid who didn’t crack a book all semester but his surefire oral exam strategy is to smother the professor with enthusiasm, charm, bluster and every possible answer.”

New York Post sports media columnist Andrew Marchand thinks Romo is hurt by the fact he’s no longer fresh off the field, having been with CBS for six seasons.

“The game evolves, and if you’re not studying film every day going into these games, you don’t see the game as well,” Marchand said on the The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast last week. “I think you can make the argument that Romo doesn’t see the game as well as he did when he first came off the field … that’s where studying becomes more important.”

Romo and Jim Nantz will be in the booth to call Sunday’s AFC championship game between the Bengals and Chiefs, which will air on CBS at 6:30 p.m.

Eagles fans tuning to Eagles Postgame Live on Saturday night following the Birds’ win against the New York Giants were left wondering one question: Where is Ron Jaworski?

The former Eagles quarterback and ex-ESPN analyst joined NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Eagles studio coverage this season after Ray Didinger’s retirement and the departure of Seth Joyner, who jumped ship to JAKIB Media. But Jaws was absent during Saturday’s game.

According to a network spokesperson, Jaws had a previously scheduled family obligation that kept him off the broadcast. But he is expected to contribute to both the pregame and postgame show on Sunday, when the Birds take on the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game.

So will Didinger, who ended his short-lived retirement to join NBC Sports Philadelphia’s coverage of the Eagles postseason run.

After calling out 94.1 WIP host Angelo Cataldi Saturday night, a calmer Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni appeared on the station’s morning show Monday.

At issue? Cataldi’s season-long criticism of Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, who has been a frequent target of sports talkers across the city, in part based the defense’s performance last season.

Sirianni told Cataldi his outburst Saturday was “all in good fun,” but brought with him 16 stats in an attempt to educate WIP listeners.

“First in sacks,” Sirianni said, pointing out the Eagles’ NFL rankings on defense. “First in pressure rate. First in yards per play. First in passing defense. First in yards per pass attempt. First in tackles for loss. First in opponent’s negative plays. Second in total defense. Third in games allowing 17 or fewer points. Third in opponent passer rating. Third in quarterback hits. Fourth in takeaways. Fourth in interceptions. Seventh in explosive plays allowed, Seventh in forced fumbles. Eight in defensive points allowed.”

Despite his critics in Philly, Gannon has received interest from multiple teams looking to fill head coaching vacancies. Sirianni said he would hate to lose Gannon, but would be happy to see him land a head coaching job.

“I don’t want him to go, but he does deserve it,” Sirianni said.