SIMMS' Blue-Collar Style Works In Booth

(From The USA Today -- By Michael McCarthy)

PHIL SIMMS laughs as he recalls his VANILLA IMAGE as a player with the SUPERBOWL-WINNING NEW YORK GIANTS. On a team dominated by headstrong personalities such as coach BILL PARCELLS and star linebacker LAWRENCE TAYLOR, Simms was the hardworking quarterback who kept his mouth shut and did his talking on the field. Now, as CBS' TOP NFL GAME ANALYST, you'd have a hard time shutting Simms up.

He has a book out from HARPERCOLLINS, SUNDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK. He's a regular contributor to IMUS IN THE MORNING and NFL.COM. The 10-year broadcast veteran also is regarded by many as the successor to JOHN MADDEN as the best NFL analyst in the business.

"I criticize a lot of players and coaches. But I back it up with facts," Simms says during a recent interview at his home in NORTHERN NEW JERSEY. "A lot of times guys get mad at me because someone told them what I said.
I say, 'You're wrong -- Go check the tape.'"

During a recent segment of HBO's COSTAS NOW with BOB COSTAS, MARK CUBAN and TOM BROKAW, Simms said, "Talk radio has almost ruined the sports fan."

He keeps a laundry list of sports cliches that make no sense despite being endlessly repeated on TV. Among the worst offenders -- the comment that struggling teams, whether the GIANTS or NEW YORK YANKEES, "don't look like they have any life out there."

Counters Simms -- "Of course it looks bad when you're not executing. When things go bad, it's not going to look good."

The KENTUCKY NATIVE always has been underestimated. The headlines read "PHIL WHO?" and fans booed when the then-little-known Simms was taken in the first round out of MOREHEAD STATE in 1979.

He also is one of the last guys you'd think would be a good color analyst. He supplied few, if any, memorable quotes during his 15 seasons with the GIANTS.

But after being released in 1995 he learned the broadcast ropes with ESPN, then as a game analyst at NBC with DICK ENBERG and PAUL MAGUIRE and finally as lead NFL analyst at CBS with GREG GUMBEL, then JIM NANTZ since 1998.

Simms and Nantz recently signed multiyear contract extensions with CBS. That took two of the most valuable chips off the board as networks recruit their broadcast teams as the NFL gets ready to shuffle its TV partners beginning with the 2006 season.

(MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL is moving from ABC to ESPN, and NBC is taking over SUNDAY NIGHT GAMES from ESPN.)

With Madden recently announcing his move to NBC from ABC in 2006, the spotlight has turned to play-by-play man AL MICHAELS, who becomes a free agent for NFL telecasts after this season. NBC SPORTS chairman DICK EBERSOL has said he's interested in Michaels and FOX's outspoken analyst CRIS COLLINSWORTH.

CBS SPORTS president SEAN McMANUS says he struck fast with Simms "to make sure Phil was not in play" in this transition period.

"If you look at current NFL analysts, John Madden has been the gold standard for 15 years. When John retires, Phil is in position to inherit that mantle," McManus says. "They're never insulting to the hardcore fan and never confusing to the casual fan. When people watch a game with Phil Simms, they learn a lot. And they're entertained."

Nantz says there's more to broadcasting than a player being ebullient in the locker room.

"Because a guy was super-quotable as a player doesn't mean he's going to be a great broadcaster," Nantz says. "Phil doesn't pull any punches. But he has a way of being critical without killing a guy."

Simms was one of the first quarterbacks to hit the weight room like an offensive lineman. He brings his lunch-pail approach to the broadcast booth, watching tapes of games and scouting players.

"Nobody is going to outwork him," Nantz says.

Simms has called four SUPERBOWLS. But he doesn't believe anybody's job is safe in the unpredictable world of TV sports.

"Every game I go to," he says, "somebody says they want to be a broadcaster. I know JEROME BETTIS wants to do TV. What about EMMITT SMITH? What's JERRY RICE going to do when he quits?"

As NFL teams return to training camp this month, Simms already is planning visits to the camps of the GIANTS and NEW YORK JETS.

Why?

"I'm nosy," he says.