Jones and Mego hosts Adam Jones and Meghan Ottolini, along with producer Christian Arcand, spent time on Monday afternoon’s show talking about the CBS broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII with Jim Nantz and Tony Romo. The WEEI hosts mentioned mistakes made by Romo during the broadcast and Ottolini was very direct in her response to Jones asking, “So, you didn’t like Romo last night?”
“I did not enjoy it,” she said. “It’s fine that he’s going to be a weirdo, he’s going to sing into commercial breaks and do things that are a little uncomfortable…that’s his personality, he’s putting it out there. He’s not bringing enough to the broadcast for me.”
Ottolini continued, “Maybe this is like pot calling kettle, but he just rambles and rambles and rambles and nothing of substance comes out.”
The hosts did agree that Romo was better during his stand-up hits at the beginning of the broadcast and at halftime when it was just Romo and Nantz talking. However, the in-game moments were when they believed Romo struggled.
“I think if he was in an Orlovsky type role he’d be good at that, he would be good in studio,” Ottolini said referring to ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky who does a lot of studio analyst work. “But in the booth, it’s awkward, it’s not adding enough and then moments like the end of that game, it’s very frustrating.”
Another example pointed out by the crew where they believed Romo came up short were the instances when Chiefs players seemed to let their emotions get the best of them. One such instance was when Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice and Patrick Mahomes were yelling at each other on the sidelines and the other was Travis Kelce getting heated at head coach Andy Reid. Ottolini believed these were times when Romo really could have added to the broadcast and given the viewers some great knowledge, but he failed to do so.
“Hey Tony, part of this is your job,” she said. “You were in the league, you’ve been on the sidelines, you’ve had confrontations with teammates and coaches before…you had meetings with these guys for days leading up to the game, anything that you can give us here?”
The hosts mentioned Romo does not come off like someone who has prepared and researched for the games he is doing and that there is a lack of chemistry between Nantz and Romo. Jones even went as far as saying, “I think Nantz sneaky hates [Romo] now.”
Prior to the Super Bowl, Jim Nantz was asked by SI’s Jimmy Traina about his throughts on working with Romo and the criticism he has received. “I am going to use my own judgement for how the broadcasts are going,” Nantz said. “I couldn’t be happier. I love working with Tony…Our chemistry is great. Our time together is just like it is on the air. We have a lot of laughter, a lot of fun. We see silliness, sometimes we bring that to the air. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt, that’s humor.”
