1. I get that bashing Tony Romo is the new fun game for people on X (formerly Twitter) and around the blogosphere, but can the bashing at least make some sense?
During Sunday’s Bengals-Chiefs game, the Romo critics (dopes) hit a new low, mocking him for analysis that totally made sense.
With the Chiefs inside the Bengals’ 10-yard line in the first quarter, Mahomes dropped back on a second-and-4 play. As he was getting ready to throw a pass to Travis Kecle, he spotted a Cincinnati player defending Kelce and threw the ball into the ground instead of forcing a pass and possibly throwing an interception.
“This is Mahomes throwing it in the dirt on purpose,” said Romo. “He sees it, and he’s got such great instincts, he tries… the guy coming right there from the inside, you saw Wilson coming. He didn’t see that initially. But he sees everything. That’s a winning play.”
Tony Romo thinks Patrick Mahomes chose to not make a play to Kelce and threw the ball into the dirt on purpose...?? pic.twitter.com/Ynky9V0jNY
— Sideline Films (@SidelineFilmz) September 15, 2024
Every single thing that Romo said there was accurate. Making sure he doesn’t turn the ball over that deep in Bengals’ territory IS a winning play.
It’s the complete opposite of what losing quarterbacks do, a la this gem from last week.
I cannot stop watching Will Levis fall to his knees and just sit there after throwing the game-losing pick 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/ITO3VFFrvH
— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) September 8, 2024
Yet critics came out in full force to bash Romo. I’m not even going to post the tweets and articles because it’s clear that a lot of people just bash Romo to bash Romo.
I thought overall Romo had a great game in the booth on Sunday, especially with X’s and O’s. He seems to have toned things down and wasn’t overhyping plays throughout the game, which is something he's had a tendency to do in recent years.
But it doesn’t seem like most people, for whatever reason, can be objective anymore while analyzing Romo’s analysis.
2. Speaking of NFL analysts, after a ho-hum debut in Week 1, Tom Brady was much more comfortable and entertaining in Week 2, despite having a second consecutive blowout game to call.
There were no jitters when the game started and Brady instantly gave off No. 1 analyst vibes, unlike last week.
"The speed of these two WRs forces separation in this zone coverage."@TomBrady breaks down the big pass from Derek Carr to Olave to set up the @Saints touchdown!
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 15, 2024
📺: FOX | @NFL pic.twitter.com/lG5BriNNfc
As I said on Twitter, this was the best moment of Brady’s day on Sunday.
Tom Brady wasn’t messing around.
— Pats Buzz (@PatsBuzz) September 16, 2024
“Not today. Pretty tough to go back there.”
Cold blooded lmao 😂😂 https://t.co/Wvk6pwm26N pic.twitter.com/3Tq4ZkZQ0b
The more Brady takes us inside his mind and how his brain worked during games, the better.
My only critique of Brady in Sunday’s Saints-Cowboys game is that I’d like to see him be a little more aggressive when talking about bad calls. There were a few instances where the refs completely got things wrong, and Brady glossed right over it. The only analyst who actually takes the refs to task is Troy Aikman. It would be nice if Brady took a page from Aikman’s book since he’s the best analyst in the NFL.
One note: Brady and Burkhardt are expected to be on the call for Sunday’s Ravens-Cowboys game. It will be Brady’s third straight week calling a Dallas game. It won’t happen four weeks in a row because the Cowboys play the Giants on Thursday Night Football in Week 4.
3. We once saw CBS’s Kevin Harlan handle play-by-play for two games at once.
Kevin Harlan was calling two games at once 🐐 pic.twitter.com/4EnCqmx98C
— Football Is Life (@FootbaIl_Tweets) December 29, 2019
On Sunday, Harlan handled a game update when there were technical difficulties with Nate Burleson back in the CBS studio.
Kevin Harlan kicked it to Nate Burleson for a studio update. Burleson couldn't hear.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 15, 2024
So Harlan did the update himself, impressing Trent Green.
"You have called two games at one time. And now you've called a studio and a game at the same time." pic.twitter.com/Pj3Dxvfc5C
4. Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix had the best postgame press conference moment of Week 2.
Bo Nix with the most literal answer of the year pic.twitter.com/LM4cE7JKSR
— Scotty Gange (@Scotty_G6) September 16, 2024
5. Before last night, in the 25-year history of San Francisco’s Oracle Park, 104 home runs had been hit in McCovey Cove. All 104 dingers were hit by left-handed batters.
Heliot Ramos became the first right-handed hitter in the stadium’s history to cause a splash with his home run.
Heliot Ramos ties it up in the 9th with a splash hit!
— MLB (@MLB) September 15, 2024
It's the first splash hit EVER by a right-handed hitter 🤯 pic.twitter.com/T87Hw9Jsy4
Ramos was well aware that no right-handed batter ever hit a ball out to McCovey Cove and said earlier this week that he wanted to be the first player to do it.
Heliot Ramos said earlier this week that he would like to become the first right-handed hitter to reach McCovey Cove. He just did it. That's the first right-handed Splash Hit after 104 by lefties.
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) September 15, 2024
Heliot admits he always wanted to be the first right-handed batter to collect a Splash Hit 💪 pic.twitter.com/7CvIs4xsEe
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 16, 2024
6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with ESPN’s Kevin Clark.
Clark talks about his transition into TV now that he’s at ESPN, his interviewing philosophy for his Omaha Productions show, This is Football, and whether we will ever see someone who isn’t a former player as an NFL or college football game analyst.
Clark also discusses Tom Brady’s debut game as Fox’s lead NFL analyst, why Bill Belichick has already been a hit as a media figure, why he thinks we won’t see less of Hard Knocks, getting critiqued by his dad, his love of Pearl Jam and more.
Following Clark, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for my weekly “Traina Thoughts“ segment. In this week’s segment, we discuss Week 1 in the NFL, cringe Cris Collinsworth, the new Sopranos documentary currently airing on Max, the upcoming Vince McMahon documentary on Netflix, a Facebook kerfuffle and more.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: John Oliver won an Emmy last night for Best Scripted Variety Series. While giving his acceptance speech, he started to talk about his recently deceased dog. Someone in production thought this would be a good time to play Oliver off and the music started. The result was pretty great.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Unwarranted Criticism Toward Tony Romo Reaches New Low.
