Tony Romo nearly lived Greg Olsen’s broadcast nightmare Sunday afternoon during the AFC Championship Game broadcast on CBS.
And no, it wasn’t because Romo had Tom Brady knocking on the door ready to bump him out of the lead analyst chair. It was because the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback almost drew a penis on live television. To be clear, Romo stopped just short of drawing a penis, but it was dicey there for a moment on the telestrator.
The near mishap occurred as the first half between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs was winding down. As Romo assessed Baltimore’s defense, he drew two circles with two lines up the middle to signal where the pressure on Patrick Mahomes might be coming from.
“Someone’s coming,” Romo said as he anticipated a blitz from Baltimore. Had he extended those two lines to Mahomes, there would have been a drawing of a penis on the screen. But perhaps saved by the snap, Romo cleared the telestrator and never drew the path all the way to Mahomes.
So why are we linking all of this to Fox NFL analyst Greg Olsen? Because last year, Olsen talked about his desire to avoid becoming the analyst known as the “d*** guy.”
“I’ve messed up a million things and drawn the wrong picture,” Olsen said during an appearance on Pardon My Take. “There’s so many things in NFL football that look like penises. And there’s a lot of very questionable verbiage that’s used in NFL football. ‘Come inside.’ There’s a lot of stuff that you gotta be careful.
“And I’m not gonna lie, there’s times where I’m like, ‘Here’s a safety, here’s a safety’ and you want to show that third little zone and you’re like, nope! Delete. Clear screen. I’m not gonna be the d*** guy.”
Romo had the safeties, he had the zones, he had the path up the middle and even had the “coming” reference that Olsen fears. But like the pro that he is, Romo was able to avoid truly living Olsen’s nightmare by stopping short of completing the penis picture. Although, maybe drawing a penis wouldn’t be the worst thing for Romo.
CBS will broadcast Super Bowl LVIII from Las Vegas on Feb. 11 with Romo and Jim Nantz on the call. And in the last year or two, Romo’s analysis has been highly scrutinized by NFL fans and media. But if things go awry during the Super Bowl and Romo finds himself struggling on the call, he can always draw a penis and everyone is sure to forget anything else that was said on the broadcast.
[CBS]
