When Tony Romo first began broadcasting games for CBS, NFL fans were mesmerized. Romo was able to predict the plays before they happened. However, he quickly cooled off and was nowhere near the magical announcer he had been in years one and two. Now, after a polarizing Thanksgiving performance, Romo is under the hot seat. This former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker is the latest to put the Cowboys legend on blast.
Emmanuel Acho Breaks Down Tony Romo’s Broadcasting Falloff
Acho’s lengthy response to Romo’s performance started with a post from Denver Broncos’ Zach Kelberman, “Tony Romo’s falloff from best analyst in the game to unbashed cheerleader needs to be studied.”
Oddly enough, fans aren’t even calling him a cheerleader for the Cowboys. Instead, he’s been constantly put on blast for the way he talks about Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes.
“When you first retire, it’s easier to call games,” Acho wrote. “You still know all the active players, coordinators and schemes. You don’t have to work; you can live off the work from your playing career. You can predict what’s coming based off knowledge of a D.C and the offensive adjustments according to that knowledge.”
To no surprise, Acho called out Romo’s prediction abilities. That was the magic of his first being in the booth.
And without those years to live off of, who knows if CBS would’ve ever extended Romo in the first place.
When you first retire it’s easier to call games. You still know all the active players, coordinators and schemes. You don’t have to work, you can live off of the work from your playing career. You can “predict” what’s coming based off knowledge of a D.C and the offensive… https://t.co/4UiqcezrMa
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) November 28, 2025
Regardless, the former Eagles linebacker continued, “As years go by, you lose familiarity with players in the league and new coordinators arise, then you have to put in the work. If you don’t put in the work (watching countless hours of film, talking to current players, tracking the coaching landscape) you revert to stating the obvious or making jokes all broadcast.”
Acho later used an analogy that put into perspective just how replaceable he believes Romo truly is: “Network execs don’t make a change because ratings aren’t impacted by bad broadcasters. But how could they be? We were never watching for them. A game analyst is like a waiter at a restaurant. No one goes to the restaurant for the waiter, but the waiter can enhance the dining experience.”
CBS Must Respond To Romo Criticism
One thing Acho made clear is that fans will watch sports shows for their favorite analysts, but they won’t tune into a game just because a player like Drew Brees, T.J. Watt, or Tony Romo is calling the action.
In the end, Acho believes, “analysts have far too often ruined games.” While it’s easy to put a guy like Romo in the booth to add credibility, given his extensive history with the Cowboys, that may no longer be the case.
It’s not as if CBS is going to fire Romo after this year because people didn’t like how he performed on Thanksgiving, but it’s something to consider, as Romo has been trending in the wrong direction for years. There’s nothing wrong with him as a person, but fans have grown tired of his bias, and former players like Acho, who put in the work, are fed up with the way these “analysts” are getting away with calling games.