NEED TO KNOW

• Tony Romo made a surprise appearance on ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast on Monday, Nov. 9

• Romo’s appearance marked the first time he’s been back on television since his July 23 OWI arrest

• Romo parted ways with CBS Sports in October

Tony Romo made a surprise return to the small screen Monday night, months after his OWI arrest and exit from CBS Sports.

The former NFL analyst 46, appeared on Pat McAfee’s Monday Night Football telecast on ESPN, making a cameo during the second quarter of the Buffalo Bills’ eventual 23-6 road win over the Minnesota Vikings on Monday, Nov. 9. Romo stayed on the broadcast for several minutes, analyzing the game with the ESPN broadcasters before signing off. 

“We miss the hell out of you this season,” McAfee told Romo before he said goodbye. “You need to know that from all of us. Appreciate you, brother.”

The appearance marked Romo’s first on TV since his July 23 arrest. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback was arrested and charged with allegedly operating a vehicle while intoxicated in Milwaukee, Wisc., shortly after playing in a celebrity golf tournament.

In the wake of his arrest, CBS announced in late July that Romo would be on leave. The network confirmed former NFL defensive end J.J. Watt would replace Romo in the top NFL booth with Jim Nantz.

In early September, Romo pleaded “no contest” to operating while intoxicated and opened up about his reliance on pain medication and alcohol in a statement.

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“This morning, I faced a recent personal failure by pleading no contest to a civil offense for OWI in Wisconsin. I own this completely,” Romo wrote in the Sept. 1 social media post, his first public comments since the arrest. “Multiple back surgeries ended my career earlier than I expected and left me with constant, debilitating pain. That pain led to a dependence on pain medication, and my efforts to get off those medications led to an over-reliance on alcohol.” 

Romo added that his explanation is not an “excuse,” and that “these are my failures, and I take responsibility for them.”

CBS confirmed in October that the network and Romo “mutually agreed to part ways.” That same month, CBS announced it had given Watt, 37, a multi-year deal to serve as the network’s lead NFL analyst.

Romo had served as CBS’ lead NFL analyst since 2017.

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