Alan Pergament: Jim Nantz rooted to get Bills-Jags. He thinks nation is rooting for Josh Allen
According to Nantz, Allen is “the biggest story for the AFC going into the postseason for a legitimate reason.”
CBS’ top play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz doesn't pull for certain teams. That would be ethically and professionally indefensible.
But certain games? That's a different story.
CBS announcers Tony Romo, left, and Jim Nantz, middle, call the Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos playoff game on Jan. 12, 2025.
Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
In an interview this week, Nantz said he was rooting to be assigned the Buffalo Bills game with the Jacksonville Jaguars out of the three AFC playoff games played on wild-card weekend.
Responding to a text Sunday night asking if he and analyst Tony Romo were assigned the game, Nantz wrote he was “very excited about landing this game.”
On Tuesday, Nantz explained he was excited to call the game at 1 p.m. Sunday on WIVB-TV partly because it epitomizes what happened in the AFC this season.
While the top-seeded Denver Broncos and the No. 2 seeded New England Patriots have winning franchises, Nantz noted their teams this year are different.
“I think if you look at the AFC, it's so wide open with inexperienced teams that are at the top of the ticket,” said Nantz.
“But these are young quarterbacks,” added Nantz, referring to New England’s Drake Maye and Denver’s Bo Nix. “The nucleus is new. This is a new iteration of those teams. So now when you flesh it out, who has the experience to know what it takes to compete this month? And very easily you identify the Buffalo Bills and they're going against one of those upstarts in Jacksonville and I just think it's a highly attractive matchup.
“I was saying all weekend to my teammates, particularly to Jim Rickhoff, our producer, I hope it shakes out where Buffalo's the sixth seed, Jacksonville's the third seed and we get that game. It just happened to work out that way. So, I'm very excited about it.
“It stirs a few memories for me. When Buffalo played Jacksonville (in 2018, three months before the Bills drafted Josh Allen) to end that long playoff drought and Tyrod Taylor was the quarterback for Buffalo, I called that game. It was a bit of a snooze-fest (Jacksonville won, 10-3) but exciting nonetheless because Buffalo had been away from the postseason for almost two decades. So, here we go again.”
In a quirk of scheduling, CBS’ No. 1 announcer team hasn’t called games involving three of the seven AFC playoff teams – Jacksonville, the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans – and only called one Patriots game.
Nantz has homework to do on Jacksonville, which went from 4-13 last season to 13-4 this season and won the AFC South.
“We didn't have an exposure to the Jaguars the whole season so that’s exciting for me also,” said Nantz. “I'm looking forward to getting to Florida first thing Friday morning and meeting with (coach) Liam Coen and … getting to know this team, attending practice and meeting with players and coaches. I know they're very good. They're being overlooked by everybody, and I think they're extremely dangerous.”
Nantz has followed quarterback Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars closely from afar.
“Lawrence has come on this second half of the season and developed into a star that Jacksonville thought they were getting when they selected him No. 1 overall (in 2021),” said Nantz. “They are exciting. They've got all kinds of playmakers on that team at the receiver position. Jakobi Meyers trade was big for them. (Parker) Washington is soaring of late. Brian Thomas Jr. has had injuries, hasn't been the player that he was a year ago, but he's a threat. Travis Etienne is all-purpose, can run, can catch out of the backfield. They're dangerous and they're exciting. The Buffalo defense better be ready for this because Jacksonville can figure out a lot of ways to get the ball down the field.”
Nantz has three words to describe the narrative that Allen must lead the Bills to the Super Bowl this year because Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson didn’t quality for the playoffs.
He called it “insane” and the same kind of “nonsense” and “hogwash” the narrative was a few years ago that the window was closing for Allen and the Bills.
“I got stirred then and I came out in your column and said it's a bunch of hogwash, it's not even at the midway point of his career. It's outrageously shortsighted and a really bad hot take, and this is, too.
“I mean (Allen’s) not going to suddenly disappear next year,” added Nantz. “Buffalo’s got 10 more great years ahead of it. So anybody that says that is trying to get clicks and attention. I'm going to give you a sensible take: There is no urgency to win it this year. I mean don't tell that to Josh. Don't tell that to Sean (McDermott). They want to win it right now, but if you're going to say it’s now or never that's an insane take. It's not true. It's fake news.”
Nantz has called some of Allen’s greatest plays. Asked for his lasting memories at Highmark, he quickly referenced Allen’s 26-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-2 play against the Kansas City Chiefs in a 30-21 Bills win last season that he instantly called “the play of the year.”
“I think it really helped him win the MVP last year. I mean that was pretty remarkable.”
Another of his favorite Highmark memories was calling the 96-yard Nyheim Hines return for a touchdown two years ago against New England with Damar Hamlin looking on in a box six days after having a cardiac arrest during a game in Cincinnati.
“This is storybook,” exclaimed Nantz as Hines neared the end zone.
According to Nantz, Allen is “the biggest story for the AFC going into the postseason for a legitimate reason.”
“Because people love him,” said Nantz. “I‘m not talking about the Bills Mafia here. I'm talking about nationally. He is beloved and people would like to see him have his moment.”
To get to that moment, the Bills likely will have to win three playoff games on the road. Nantz believes it is doable.
“It happened many times before,” said Nantz. “It’s not unprecedented by any means. I don’t think that’s too tall of a task. However, I do want to put this in your column, OK? This is going to sound crazy, but I think there is a chance that we will have the opportunity to come back for the last, last, the final, final old Highmark Stadium game, and I know what that means. That means the Chargers and the Bills have to win two games on the road. I think that's possible … I'm not predicting it's going to happen, but I'm not ruling it out.
“I would think that would be so cool to call the last, last final, final game at Highmark with all the chips on the line to go to the Super Bowl. That would be, I don't know, someone used the word one time, ‘storybook.’”