It was a rough start to the AFC playoffs for Tony Romo.

The CBS game analyst got scheduled to call one of the juiciest games of Wild Card Weekend, with the upstart Jacksonville Jaguars hosting Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.

But from the opening moments of the game, Romo was completely off-kilter on the call.

In the intro of the game alongside announcer Jim Nantz, Romo missed an easy opportunity to set the stage for the big game and a wide-open NFL postseason bracket. Instead, Romo referenced Carolina nearly beating the Rams on Saturday before offering a strange comparison to Buffalo that likely left the viewer more confused.

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen it where it’s like, who’s going to win? Ummmm, I don’t know!” Romo quipped. “I’m pretty good at football knowledge and I don’t know. Today’s going to be very telling, though, because Jacksonville is a complete football team. Carolina did that yesterday. They earned the respect, almost won, but they didn’t.

“Jacksonville is in that same situation. They could do it, this could be a major upset. Even though it’s really not an upset, because the Bills are actually the underdog. But they’re the overdog. We’ll see today.”

The only problem? By the opening kick, the Jaguars were favored to win the game at home.

Romo off to a hot start….This could be a major upset like Carolina yesterday even though they are favored…. pic.twitter.com/e8pX4K5v5D

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) January 11, 2026

Later in the first half, Romo was repeatedly criticized by several prominent reporters and commentators for his analysis of Allen’s play.

After a hard hit on Allen in the first quarter, Romo (and Nantz) failed to point out that the star QB may have been hurt until he went to the blue tent on the sideline.

Allen got hit pretty hard on that play. The truck even showed a replay…and nobody said a thing till Allen went into the tent.

— Bryan Curtis (@bryancurtis) January 11, 2026

On the other hand, Wall Street Journal media reporter Joe Flint was fed up with Romo’s turning each play by Allen or Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence into a bigger narrative.

Someone tell Romo we don’t need something deep and profound after every play. Not every play in Q1 is make or break.

— Joe Flint (@JBFlint) January 11, 2026

In the second quarter, as Allen and the Bills neared their first touchdown of the game, Romo got so caught up with an apparent finger injury to Allen and whether the QB crossed the goal line on a designed run that he talked over the entire sequence.

As officials paused before officially calling Allen’s touchdown, CBS viewers waited for several moments after Romo called rules analyst Gene Steratore in, only for the production crew to wait until after the next commercial break to get Steratore’s perspective.

Romo confusing everyone on that Allen TD

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) January 11, 2026

Tony Romo seems absolutely lost during the first half of this broadcast. It’s a brutal listen right now.

— Zach Gelb (@ZachGelb) January 11, 2026

Romo’s performance was enough for many to question his point of view and even his future at CBS.

I want to say that I unequivocally do not believe any Tony Romo observations about Josh Allen or this game in general.

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) January 11, 2026

It would be a fun bold move of the David Ellison regime to vault Ian Eagle and JJ Watt ahead of Nantz and Romo. If deserve had something to do with it……

— Ryan Glasspiegel (@sportsrapport) January 11, 2026

After CBS executives held an intervention of sorts with Romo before the 2022 season, much of the criticism of him had quieted down. But this year, even with several of his signature Romo-stradadmus predictions, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback has arguably dropped off even further, often seeming to ad-lib or guess his way through game broadcasts.

In the playoff spotlight (with the improving Eagle-Watt booth breathing down his and Nantz’s necks), Romo was not nearly as sharp as you would expect a highly paid No. 1 network analyst to be.