Last week, a Buffalo Bills fan bee-lined out of Highmark Stadium after catching an errant pass from quarterback Josh Allen. And when officials tracked down a fan sitting behind the end zone at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday, CBS analyst Tony Romo was ready to break it down.
The league imprints a surprising amount of technology into each ball. NFL footballs have reportedly had a chip in them since 2017, and this season that technology is even more important than ever as the league did away with the “chain gangs” to measure ball placement using movement detection and tracking cameras.
After Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw a pass out of the back of the end zone in a win over the Las Vegas Raiders, Romo explained the latest chapter in the officials vs. home fans saga to CBS viewers:
“See what they do there? See how they switched that?”
“The reason you give the ball back is there’s chips in those footballs … the NFL wants to keep their data to themselves and give you a ball that doesn’t have chips in it.”
Tony Romo explains the fan football exchange pic.twitter.com/cst8lZlzsh
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) October 19, 2025
Quickly, play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz wondered whether the league sent an official up to the upper deck, where receiver Rashee Rice booted a ball after his first touchdown of the season this week.
“They were not happy with that, I just got word,” Romo joked.
The rest of the NFL announcer community has its work cut out. When the Bills fan made a run for it on Sunday Night Football in Week 6, NBC’s Mike Tirico narrated the escape as if it were a player on-field.
Now, Romo brought his hawk eyes out to catch a similar incident this week.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.