Jim Nantz has narrated some of the most electrifying moments in North American sports through his work as the primary voice of CBS Sports' NFL, NCAA basketball, and major golf tournament coverage.
The next one probably won't come on Sunday afternoon.
Nantz and NFL broadcast partner Tony Romo (along with sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson) will be among those sitting through the quiet duel between the New England Patriots and Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday late afternoon at Allegiant Stadium (4:05 p.m. ET, CBS). As CBS' top NFL trio, Nantz, Romo, and Wolfson are often offered the premier games in the AFC, which have included many Patriots contests.
Even though the Patriots and Raiders produced an exciting effort in a get-together last December, few, if any, have made Sunday's game appointment viewing.
New England (1-4) has endured consecutive defeats by a 69-point margin and appears to be going nowhere fast. The Raiders (2-3) are in relatively decent shape after ending a three-game losing streak with a Monday night victory over Green Bay but no one is expecting Sin City to eat away at Kansas City's 2.5-game lead in the AFC West. A reunion between the Patriots and several former Foxborough friends (i.e. Jimmy Garoppolo, Jakobi Meyers).
So what are Nantz, Romo, and Wolfson doing there?
For one thing, this week's CBS slate is relatively weak: the most attractive game is perhaps an AFC South tilt between Indianapolis and Jacksonville or Cincinnati and Seattle's interconference clash. Both will be staged at 1 p.m. ET. The Patriots-Raiders is CBS' only game in the later Sunday window. As for the conference's top dogs, Kansas City played on Thursday, Miami faces winless Carolina, Buffalo plays in NBC's night game, and Baltimore has a morning show in London.
But, in a shocking twist, the Patriots-Raiders game may carry championship implications ... at least for Nantz, Romo, and Wolfson.
According to a writeup from Sean Keeley of Awful Announcing, pitting Nantz and Romo in Las Vegas will give them a chance to prepare for their call of Super Bowl LVIII, which will be staged at Allegiant Stadium this February.
"Whenever possible, if the network calling the Super Bowl can get its broadcasting team in that stadium for a “practice run” during the regular season, they try to do it," Keeley explains. "Given that CBS doesn’t have too many Raiders home games on the schedule from here on out, they might as well use this weekend as the dry run."
To that point, only one more Raiders home game (Nov. 26 vs. Kansas City) is scheduled to air on CBS. If any other game is flexed out of its slot, it's unlikely that Nantz and Romo would be assigned to it. Sunday will also mark the tandem's first time in Allegiant Stadium's broadcast booth since it opened in 2020.
It's perhaps hardly any consolation to the New England fanbase, but they can at least take comfort in the fact that they'll be far from the only ones suffering through Sunday's suspected slog.
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