Last week, a Buffalo Bills fan bee-lined out of Highmark Stadium after catching an errant pass from quarterback Josh Allen. And when officials tracked down a fan sitting behind the end zone at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday, CBS analyst Tony Romo was ready to break it down.<\/p>\n
The league imprints a surprising amount of technology into each ball. NFL footballs have reportedly had a chip in them since 2017, and this season that technology is even more important than ever as the league did away with the \u201cchain gangs\u201d to measure ball placement using movement detection and tracking cameras.<\/p>\n
After Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw a pass out of the back of the end zone in a win over the Las Vegas Raiders, Romo explained the latest chapter in the officials vs. home fans saga to CBS viewers:<\/p>\n
\u201cSee what they do there? See how they switched that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason you give the ball back is there\u2019s chips in those footballs \u2026 the NFL wants to keep their data to themselves and give you a ball that doesn\u2019t have chips in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tony Romo explains the fan football exchange pic.twitter.com\/cst8lZlzsh<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NFL on CBS \ud83c\udfc8 (@NFLonCBS) October 19, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Quickly, play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz wondered whether the league sent an official up to the upper deck, where receiver Rashee Rice booted a ball<\/a> after his first touchdown of the season this week.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were not happy with that, I just got word,\u201d Romo joked.<\/p>\n The rest of the NFL announcer community has its work cut out. When the Bills fan made a run for it on\u00a0Sunday Night Football in Week 6, NBC\u2019s Mike Tirico narrated the escape as if it were a player on-field<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, Romo brought his hawk eyes out to catch a similar incident this week.<\/p>\n \t