Tony romo Edit by Liam McGuire

When Tony Romo first broke onto the scene as the top NFL game analyst at CBS, he became known for his eerie ability to foresee big plays before they happened.

Often, Romo would work the telestrator in real time right before the snap and communicate to the audience what they were about to see, dipping into his recent experience as the Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback to tell the future to fans at home.

As Romo’s career has gone on and he gets further from his playing days, he has not been able to dip into the “Romo-stradamus” part of his brain quite as often. But on Sunday in Tampa Bay, Romo was on his A-game.

At the tail end of the first quarter as the New England Patriots began their third drive of the game, Romo had a feeling.

“This is, right now, where (Patriots offensive coordinator) Josh McDaniels usually comes up with some big type of play,” Romo said. “You’ve seen it for two drives, and now you figure out what the defense is doing.”

On cue: a 72-yard touchdown for New England.

Even all these years later, Romo’s broadcast partner Jim Nantz was just as shocked as the audience to see Romo nail the prediction.

“I don’t know how you felt it coming here Tony, but you felt it,” Nantz said.

“You just have seen enough football, and I’m like, ‘Watch out, Tampa,'” Romo explained.

“Once I get a beat on you, that means Josh McDaniels gets a beat on you, and I know what (coverage) you’re going to be in. This is right at that time where you’ve gotta be like, ‘Oh, let’s switch up what we’re doing, don’t give them the same look.'”

The most prescient part of Romo’s analysis was to note that McDaniels would scheme up a big play. Anyone can talk about the guile of a quarterback or the big-play ability of an athletic receiver, but Romo was spot on to note that the play-caller would dial up a big swing.

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.