The first Cowboys game you called this year was obviously an emotional day given the team honored you in a pregame ceremony and your family was there. For you, there will never be another Cowboys game like that, but as you move on in your broadcasting career and call more Dallas games, how do you anticipate your work will be on those games versus the experience this year?

The first Cowboys game for me was difficult for many reasons. To feel the warmth of the crowd made it feel like what you did was worth it, if that makes sense. I don’t know, it just makes you feel special. When you are sitting there feeling that way, you feel humbled and proud, and your kids are there, and when you have kids it is just a feeling of deep-rooted joy that they get to be part of it, and I didn’t have that when I was younger. But doing the game part was difficult. If you listened to the second game, I let it go a little more, and in the future I am pretty sure I will treat it like every other game.

AP

How much feedback did you want about your performance initially?

Initially, you are getting advice from everywhere … and that includes everyone in the industry, and in a lot of ways I enjoyed that. I am someone who always wants information, and from there I can start to figure out what is usable for me and the technique and route I want to go.

The two people I leaned on more than anyone were [CBS NFL producer Jim] Rikhoff and Nantz. The two of them throughout the whole year have been mentors in the way of guidance. So I might do something and they would say, You can do that, but there is also a way to do that this way. That was beneficial for me. I knew I would do things a little abnormal and outside the box, but I just felt that people who love football like me want to learn football. If you love the game, hopefully you will enjoy learning it. The way I think about the game, I wanted to show viewers that there is a whole bunch of things that they don’t know.

I think I like this broadcasting thing. ;) A post shared by Tony Romo (@tony.romo) on Sep 24, 2017 at 5:41pm PDT

The fun part for me is trying to decide which things to say. I kind of want to build a vignette where it is like a story but it takes a little while to unfold. So I want to start something early in a game and it unfolds before your eyes as you are watching it. Hopefully that adds to the drama, to the telecast, and helps the viewers experience it.

Coaches come in with plans all the time and they have ideas [about] how they are going to go about it. It’s almost like a boxing match. The ideas are great until you get punched. Then it is like, Are you still going to stick with this after you have rushed for 1.0 yard per carry over nine carries? Are you going to keep going with three tight ends and running the football because that was your game plan coming in? Will people change their mindset or stick with their guns? A lot of that is really fun to see how that unfolds.