Tony Romo is pinning his recent arrest, in part, on the fallout from multiple back surgeries.

The CBS broadcaster said in a lengthy statement Tuesday that because of all the pain he was in from procedures he underwent as a Cowboys quarterback, he developed a substance abuse issue that led to him being placed behind bars last month.

“Multiple back surgeries ended my career earlier than I expected and left me with constant, debilitating pain,” Romo wrote on his Instagram page. “That pain led to a dependance on pain medication, and my efforts to get off those medications led to an over-reliance on alcohol.”

I will note his back seems to be working fine while he's playing golf, as a few commenters in the below article pointed out

From the NYPost

https://nypost.com/2026/09/01/sports/tony-romo-opens-up-on-difficult-time-as-punishment-revealed-for-owi-arrest/

Archive link:

https://archive.ph/BD1ft

Stating the obvious here, but the pods with Sal versus the pods with Zach Lowe are like we’re listening to two completely different shows. All the jokes, wild hypotheticals, and screwing around that Bill and Sal do are the best. I can’t believe we have to put up with 6 months of Zach Lowe taking everything as serious as a heart attack and not saying a bad word about anyone ever.

If Bill was serious he’d get a new co-host for NBA Sundays this year.

Used to love it but am genuinely so bored at this point. Only doing 2 leagues this year and honestly would rather do zero. In any competitive league its just luck, whether you beat the guys who aren’t fish. I also hate talking to dudes about their fantasy teams, I don’t think I have ever had an insightful or interesting conversation about it.

Hank Aaron

Hank Hill

Hank Williams Sr

Hank Shrader (inventor of Shraderbrau)

Tom Hanks

Hank Azaria (was he the guy who Sal gave chocolate to his dog?)

Hank Gathers

Hank Chinaski

Steven Ruiz really is a one trick pony

The E looking like it’s in a totally different font makes this seem intentional

Maybe Bill has felt the pressures of his gambling addiction start to pile up and he knew one of the only ways for him to stop or be forced to stop was to make it publicly known he was doing something wrong and illegal. I just think that there had to have been several people telling him to cut that from the episode, but he decided to leave it in because being held publicly accountable for this might be the only way to help him with his addiction.
Obviously I have no idea if this is true or not, but it’s a theory I have.

He did it again in the AFC over/unders when talking about the Chiefs coming off Mahomes ACL, and he's done it before. I know the postseason result was a disaster but in my opinion this might have been Brady's finest season. Record for pass attempts without an interception, 9:1 TD to INT ratio, second MVP. The best offense in the league by a WIDE margin (518 points scored, next best was the Chargers at 441). Number 8 ranked defense during a season they actually had a pretty hard schedule playing against top offenses like the Chargers, Packers, Steelers, Colts, the last great Jets team twice. Sorry this just bothers me.

Edit: I'd even go so far to say in a lot of ways this was the greatest non super bowl winning season the Pats ever had. Obviously 07 was amazing but some of the wins towards the end of the season started to get sketchy whereas this team beat the brakes off almost every team they met in the regular season.

Don’t think I’ve seen anyone say this yet, but at the 39:15 mark, Bill and Sal quip on wives sending their friends photos to get approval on if it should be posted on IG.

Then Sal suggests doing it for the Ringer…

How fucking ironic, because Bill then admits to proxy gambling and somehow no one had the bright idea that they shouldn’t include that! Laugh out loud irony.

I really hope someone gives him a chance.

Bill seems to have some sort of life change causing him to rapidly confess to crimes on air.

Within the last few days he confessed to never wearing a seat belt and now proxy betting.

I’m not a regular listener so……..

What other crimes has Bill admitted to?

It was a taped show. Chose not to edit it out. Even if it was live…Feels like it was cooked up in a board room. Far too deliberate not to be. Netflix needs ROI and they need it now. This is Jerry Jones stuff. PT Barnum. Batshit publicity in this rotten sellout decade.

My evidence? Nothing. Go ahead and tell me why I’m wrong. If I am? I think that might look even worse for him.

It’s a toss up House! It just is!

I've posted one of these every season since 2023 and it's always fun bc I get things like Steelers fans telling me they don't even *want* Caleb Williams because Kenny Pickett is their guy and Dolphins fans telling me Tua is just as good as Josh Allen

I've fucked up too before ofc. Last year I thought Penix would be good and that Geno was a solid starter.

QBs are not ranked inside the tiers so don't read into the exact order

FanDuel seems to be rolling out this promotion really heavily today. Either Bill’s “slip” on the podcast was stealth marketing or this whole ad campaign is to try to set up that defense.

Fennessey's mild critique of ChatGPT was interesting only b/c no prominent Ringer employee has ever publicly criticized the company or Bill (CR, Fennessey, Dobbins, etc.).

made me realize how vested his core group is - almost all of them have been hosting the same podcast for 10 - 15 years at this point. seems like that would inevitably lead to 1) a realization you'll never find a better set up in terms of pay and stabilty, 2) boredom and stagnation. they're also almost uniformly 40+.

you can't talk about the same stuff for over a decade and find it as fresh as you did previously. furthermore, the industry is pushing them more into 'performers' than anything resembling cultural critics/journalists.

He had troubles finding any of his players on the sticker-sheet, is he color blind or like almost blind?