Vet, newcomer call super bowl shots

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This article was published 03/02/2019 (2796 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ATLANTA —They are highly skilled play-callers, meticulous about their craft and painstakingly prepared for the NFL’s biggest stage.

There’s the seasoned veteran at the top of his game, who has deftly navigated every conceivable situation. There’s the rapidly ascending and unflappable newcomer, who has succeeded where so many before him have failed.

And the thing is, neither of them will take a snap or make a coaching decision today.

Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will share the CBS booth for their first Super Bowl broadcast together. Nantz has worked seven of them, five as play-by-play man and two as pregame host. Romo, two years removed from his job as Dallas Cowboys quarterback, is making his first Super Bowl appearance.

 

Romo’s sense of what’s about to happen has become such a thing, such a viral sensation, that Nantz has nicknamed him “Romostradamus” after the 16th century astrologer and seer Nostradamus.

Then again, it takes one to know one. Years ago, Nantz got the nickname “Nantztradamus” from on-course reporter David Feherty for his keen insights when calling golf tournaments.

“I loved it of course,” Nantz said of the moniker. “It’s been sitting there dormant for a good while, and then last week, (Patriots quarterback Tom Brady) hit (tight end Rob Gronkowski) on a crucial fade pattern, and Tony drew up, circled Gronk at the top of the screen, and it just boom. I thought, ‘Man, he’s going through a stretch here. It’s freakish.’ So I said, ‘You’re right, Romostradamus!’ “