For nearly a decade, Jim Nantz shared the CBS broadcast booth with former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. Following Romo’s departure from the network after his arrest for OWI, CBS brought in former NFL defensive end J.J. Watt to partner with Nantz for the remainder of the 2026 season. As the two began building chemistry in the booth, an attempt to demonstrate a football technique took an unexpected turn for Nantz.

During the Buffalo Bills vs. Las Vegas Raiders matchup, Nantz asked Watt how to “punch out” a football, a technique defenders use to force fumbles. Watt, drawing on his experience as a veteran NFL player, explained how defenders have increasingly been using it to dislodge the ball. However, the demonstration appeared to leave Nantz nursing an injury of his own.

“You see, the punch out everybody’s gotten good at the peanut Tillman punch; the bottom of the ball comes out, but what guys are doing now, and you’ve seen Cook do it,” explained Watt on Nantz’s request. “He’s going like this. I’ve actually talked to some guys around the league that they do a wrist walk. So now you walk everything in, Jim, go ahead. Give that a good punch, really hard.”

But as Nantz punched the ball, he realized that something had gone wrong as he recoiled and kept shaking his hand. After a few mins, he acknowledged his mistake, noting, “My wrist is broken.”

Watt, meanwhile, laughed it off, as he acknowledged never believing that Jim Nantz would punch the ball that hard. But at the same time, it felt like the veteran announcer was joking about his wrist injury as both Nantz and Watt continued calling the matchup, while the Bills vs. Raiders matchup neared the end of the first half.

However, he did seem to be in a little pain, despite laughing it off and carrying on.

Following the half-time game, the veteran announcer appeared to have an ice pack in his hand and had a wrap on his punching hand. While the injury didn’t appear to be serious, CBS dropped an update, confirming that Nantz was back in the booth.

“Physical at times in that first half. Gonna be a few folks having to play hurt the last couple of quarters…Jim Nantz holding an ice pack 😅,” NFL on CBS posted on X.

Nantz, meanwhile, has certainly been building chemistry with Watt, after calling the games with Romo for almost a decade. After Watt replaced Romo for the 2026 season, Nantz raved about Watt, acknowledging the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year’s talent.

“He’s got a lot of talent, and he’s got a lot of people who like him,” Nantz told Jimmy Traina on The Traina Thoughts Podcast. “He’s a star and he’s got a personality that is different and that’s a good thing. He’s a bigger than life personality…He’s done maybe 22 games now in his career. It’s not a ton, and you would not know that standing next to him on a Sunday.

“Again, no comparisons here. This is just J.J. on his own. His preparation is so much like a guy that is preparing for an actual game to play in it. It’s astounding to see the level of detail that he gets into and that he shares.”

That said, Nantz’s exchange with Watt offered a glimpse of their growing comfort in the booth, but it also gave viewers an unexpected moment to remember from the Bills-Raiders broadcast. For Watt, explaining a technique used by NFL defenders was routine. Getting Nantz to try it himself, however, turned out to be a different story.