Better hope Romo isn’t Giant mistake
Simms.
Does CBS know if Romo will be a flop like Brown or Graham, or whether he will become an immediate star like John Madden or Cris Collinsworth? It is betting on him being Collinsworth and praying he’s not Graham. He will be 37 on April 21. Simms is 62. Romo will appeal to a younger audience who never saw Simms play.
What the network does know is it just gave a rookie the spot that Simms has held since CBS won the bidding for the AFC package in 1998 and the rookie has never been in front of a camera other than doing locker room interviews.
I think this is a big mistake that will reveal itself when CBS has its first big game, when as many eyes will be on Romo as the quarterbacks on the field.
When the red light comes on in the booth for the first time, it’s like Lawrence Taylor coming around the edge at a rookie quarterback. You better have a plan to survive. Simms learned the business as a studio analyst at ESPN before NBC, and then CBS hired him as its No. 1 analyst. Romo goes from the field right into the No. 1 booth. That’s a lot of pressure.
This would be easier to understand if CBS was replacing Simms with Peyton Manning, who is a natural in front of the camera and is funny, anecdotal and smart. He’s Peyton Manning. So far, he has shown no desire to do games. If he changes his mind, the networks will be lining up. I’ve spoken to Romo on many occasions since Bill Parcells made him the Cowboys starter midway through the 2006 season. Really nice guy, speaks well, but he’s not Manning. I never thought he had that kind of outgoing personality that would work for a threehour game. The CBS bosses met him for the first time at the NFL’s Friday night Super Bowl party two years ago in Phoenix before the Patriots-Seahawks game. McManus asked Romo what he thought of the game, he gave a 10-minute answer and McManus decided a star was born and he was destined to be a No. 1 analyst. He will work with Jim Nantz, who can make anybody look good, but CBS never had Romo do a practice game with Nantz off the television to find out if he was any good at this. It’s not fair to come to definitive conclusions following Romo’s onehour CBS conference call Tuesday, but I was not impressed. He was long-winded, monotone,