Much has been made of Tony Romo’s tremendous, often prophetic, ability as a colour commentator since replacing Phil Simms as Jim Nantz’s broadcast partner for NFL broadcasts on CBS.
The Wall Street Journal even took matters a step further, calculating that Romo has correctly predicted plays 68 per cent of the time this season.
Romo’s ability to foresee how plays will transpire on the field prior to the ball even being snapped has captivated viewers for weeks now, especially during these playoffs. And given the hype surrounding Super Bowl Sunday, you just knew attention paid towards Romo’s broadcasting would be at an all-time high when the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams did battle for the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
With this year’s game now in the record books and Tom Brady’s Patriots having secured a sixth Super Bowl victory, here are some of the top moments when Romo amazed us with his football foresight:
First-quarter completion to Edelman
Prior to the Patriots running a late play in the first quarter, Romo highlighted Julian Edelman’s matchup against Aqib Talib pre-snap. Lo and behold, Brady found Edelman for a key completion that led to a first down. New England wasn’t able to capitalize on the opportunity, though, failing to open the game’s scoring.
Warns Nantz about jinxing Gostkowski; Gostkowski misses field goal
Romo didn’t exactly predict a play — at least directly — instead warning his co-commentator that he may have jinxed a kicker. Spoiler: Romo was right.
The former Cowboys signal caller warned Nantz that mentioning a streak of 31 consecutive field goals made at Mercedes-Benz Stadium this season as Stephen Gostkowski headed out for a 46-yard field goal attempt midway through the first quarter may wind up jinxing the kicker.
What happened? Gostkowski missed the kick.
It was the fifth missed field goal of his post-season career, but luckily for him, Gostkowski got a chance to redeem himself by converting his second field-goal attempt to give New England a 3-0 lead entering halftime.
Super Bowl MVP prediction
There weren’t many big plays for Romo to call in this one, but he did make a notable prediction once the clock ran out, picking Julian Edelman to win Super Bowl MVP.
And of course, making that selection proved to be the correct choice.
Twitter was loving Romo
Given the defensive-minded, somewhat dull nature of this year’s big game, people found themselves gravitating towards Romo as Super Bowl LIII’s top highlight (at least before the game’s first touchdown was scored during the fourth quarter):
Romo’s top quotes
• After Brady yelled “Reagan” in a pre-snap audible to shift a rushing play to the right: “Obviously, Reagan means run to the right.”
• “You wanted an offensive game? Too bad.”
• After Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein tied the game at three apiece with a 53-yard field goal late in the third quarter: “3-3 and it feels like we’ve got a scoring spree going on.”
• Romo makes a very bold prediction ahead of Gostkowski’s game-clinching field goal: “Going out on a limb and saying this is going to win the Super Bowl.”
