Jim Nantz and Tony Romo had an interesting final few minutes during today’s AFC Divisional playoff game between the Chiefs and Browns.
The game itself was crazy enough, with wild momentum swings and a key injury to Patrick Mahomes that knocked him out of the game and put his status for the remainder of the postseason into doubt. Late in the contest, with the Chiefs facing third and long and the Browns out of timeouts, backup quarterback Chad Henne scrambled and dove for a first down, and Romo seemed convinced he’d gained enough yards to seal a win for Kansas City.
LOUD NOISES from Tony Romo. pic.twitter.com/e9hntvbshY
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 17, 2021
Romo’s decibel level there was certainly wild, while Nantz was a bit more measured in his response, perhaps because he’d seen Henne’s arm hit the ground on any of the replays that showed him clearly short of the line to gain. (An aside: that was a hell of a spot by the officials.)
That meant the Chiefs had fourth and inches, with the clock running. Romo fully expected Henne was going to attempt to draw a penalty from the Browns, and then call timeout at the last second to avoid a delay of game. That would have given Andy Reid time to consider whether he’d be going for it to win the game in his own territory, or punting it back to Cleveland with more than a minute left on the clock.
Unfortunately for Cleveland, Andy Reid had different ideas, fooling the Browns as much as he’d fooled Romo and snapping the ball to play for the win, a decision that couldn’t have made Romo any happier.
After predicting there wouldn't be a snap, Tony Romo lost his mind when the Chiefs went for it to seal the win. pic.twitter.com/sQuyOAibzz
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 17, 2021
Romo sounds like he’s about to jump out of the booth to congratulate Andy Reid in person. His excitement was fairly justified, too; that’s an all-time call from Reid. If anything, Romo being so certain the Chiefs weren’t going to run a play only added to the surprise for viewers, and highlighted just how the Browns could be caught so off-guard in that scenario as well.
It was a hell of a game, and hopefully Mahomes can get healthy as soon as possible.
