Broadcaster Tony Romo rubbed some people the wrong way on Sunday with how he opted to cover the return of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers, who sat out of his team’s prior game due to COVID-19, has been the subject of much criticism over the past week and change.
When he returned to action in the Packers’ victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, some watching at home felt like Romo did a poor job covering the situation in its entirety.
— sportsvids1 (@sportsvids1) November 14, 2021
“I’m glad he did that; I’m glad he took responsibility for that. I’m glad that he said that he misled people,” he said. “…and I think the biggest thing, you know it’s a polarizing issue, but I can promise you he felt the weight of it the last few weeks, it’s something that he’s not thinking about anything else, and it’s been, make no mistake, a very challenging week for him.”
Social media backlash was swift:
Tony Romo defending Rodgers is equally disappointing and unsurprising.
— Barbara Seiders (@eigenseide) November 14, 2021
Tony Romo knows his X’s and O’s – very well – but his praise of the way Aaron Rodgers handled the Covid thing reveals that Tony is tone-deaf outside of football. Ditto his comment about Gisele Bundchen. I’m thinking he won’t last long.
— Brad Dickson (@brad_dickson) November 15, 2021
Figures Tony Romo would back lying moron Aaron Rodgers. Romo was nothing but a scaredy cat fragile loser with the Dallas Cowboys. Stats, yes, but also crutches and bandages and limps. Too bad Ivermectin wasn’t available back then.
— MediaMan666 (@MediaMan666) November 15, 2021
A big take away from todays Hawks game is how the @NFL told @tonyromo and Nantz that they had to address the @AaronRodgers12 COVID lie and how fucking bad they were at it. It was awful.
— TANEVer gonna give you up (@SpaceForceLT) November 15, 2021
This isn’t the first time Romo has found himself on the wrong end of online criticism. You will recall, his joke not long ago about Gisele Bundchen also raised more than a few eyebrows.
Rodgers, meanwhile, admitted after the game that his return was an emotional one.
“A lot of emotions for sure,” he said.
“Good to be back with the guys, good to be back at home, good to be on the field, really. The most emotions from the whole night was probably walking off the field after the game. It definitely got me a little misty. It was good to feel those types of emotions and good to be back with the guys.”
Yikes. The video speaks for itself. https://t.co/PqhGVBrb58
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 15, 2021
Obviously both Rodgers and his fiancée want to move on from this situation, but it feels like some of the public isn’t ready to let bygones be bygones just yet. How long will the healing process take? Time will tell.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
