Andrew Marchand: Jim Nantz and Tony Romo are ‘regressing’

Few broadcasters have seen their reputations swing as wildly as Tony Romo, and few broadcasters are as revered and rocksteady as Jim Nantz.

The CBS NFL duo has been working together now for nine seasons, starting in 2017, and the discussion around their work has run the gamut.

Initially, Romo was deemed a broadcasting wunderkind thanks to what seemed like a supernatural ability to predict plays (a skill he still has). His playful energy was infectious and complemented Nantz’s stoicism well.

More recently, Romo regressed severely in the eyes (and ears) of many viewers. He’s become known more for obsessing over certain quarterbacks, saying odd catchphrases, and making undecipherable noises. Meanwhile, there have been times when Nantz seems confused or even annoyed by his broadcasting partner.

While much of the criticism against the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback has died down, his gaffes quickly become reminders that he is, for some viewers, an acquired taste, and for others, one they’d rather skip.

The Athletic’s sports media insider, Andrew Marchand, took it one step further in the latest episode of Marchand & Meterparel: Everybody Loves Sports Media. He gave the CBS duo his dreaded “What’s Down” and explained that he feels they’ve regressed as a broadcasting team.

The Jim Nantz-Tony Romo, uncle nephew, dynamic isn’t working and the duo is regressing https://t.co/5SoEq4Cu3S pic.twitter.com/PC0qd9Bg6k

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) November 10, 2025

“They keep regressing,” said Marchand. “They do this thing where, and I tweeted about this, they lead the league in saying, ‘They did this game a couple of years ago or earlier in the season. We were at that game.’ No one cares if you’re at the game. That has nothing to do with it. We get it. You guys do the big games, but that doesn’t matter.

“They also love to reference what they said earlier, which, again, we’re listening. If you do it every once in a while, these things, it’s fine, but they just do it, it’s just like their thing.

“Then lastly, this is the chemistry. Romo will make a joke, Jim will comment on it, but there’s no real camaraderie there. I know they hugged and said they loved each other at the beginning of games, and maybe they do truly love each other. But in terms of the chemistry, you just don’t necessarily feel it when you’re watching the game.

“And last thing, Nantz, late on a lot of calls, but then sometimes when he’s early, he gets things wrong. So again, just want to see improvement from that Nantz and Romo combination.”

Later in the podcast, Marchand, who broke the story a few years back about CBS conducting an “intervention” with Romo, dug into the uncle-nephew dynamic between Nantz and Romo and how it impacts how they feed off one another.

“It’s like that uncle-nephew thing they got at a game,” said Marchand. “It’s like you’re going with your uncle, and you got your nephew there, and he’s making all these references, and the uncle’s like, ‘I don’t know what he’s talking about. Yeah, okay, little Tony, I get it.’ And trying to play along. There’s no real buy-play when these things happen.

“I always say Romo is a little like Al Maguire back in the day. At his best, he has a really good feel for football, and maybe doesn’t need to know all the names of players, and it could work. But Jim is just that more old-school, looks like a news anchor, sounds like a news anchor, that Peter Jennings-type from back in the day.”

The truth is that when they’re clicking, Nantz-Romo are considered one of the best NFL broadcasting booths. But Marchand is right that they’ve settled into a lot of repetitive business and weird tics that distract from what is often the best game of the day. As for Romo, he’s become broadcasting Marmite: you either love him or you hate him. And every time he makes a weird noise or says something strange, all of the other annoyances come rushing back in.