Simms' Road was bumpier than Eli's.

[Virginia Giant]

Phil Simms' road with N.Y. Giants much bumpier than Eli Manning's

 

Monday, January 28, 2008

 

BY PAUL NEEDELL

Star-Ledger Staff

 

 

There was a time when the role of Eli Manning was played by Phil Simms. A first-round draft pick with a strong right arm and a voice from way south of South Jersey, brought to the world's biggest stage to one day steer the Giants to Super Bowl glory.

 

Another similarity: Neither player lived up to the chore quickly enough to suit the team's loyal but impatient legion of supporters. See the connection?

 

 

Simms doesn't. Not even a lick.

 

"It's a case you can try to make, but it's not one I believe in," Simms said the other night from his Franklin Lakes home. "My first four years, gosh, if it went like Eli Manning's, it would've been a dream start for me."

 

You read correctly, Eli bashers. The greatest quarterback in franchise history just told you that Manning, who leads the Giants into Super Bowl XLII against the 18-0 Patriots Sunday in Glendale, Ariz., is ahead of the learning curve Simms set so high 21 years ago in Super Bowl XXI.

 

"All quarterbacks coming into the league would like to suffer and go through what Eli Manning has gone through," Simms said. "Three straight years in the playoffs. Getting to play as a rookie. Playing all this time without getting hurt."

 

Simms paused to chuckle. It was easy to imagine a shake of the head, too.

 

"If I came into the league and had Eli Manning's success," he said, "and people were complaining like they have about him until the last three weeks, I'd be going, 'What, are you nuts? Am I missing something here?'"

 

In this way, their stories are similar. Different paths, similar growing pains.

 

Simms wasn't booed when the Giants selected him seventh overall in the 1979 draft out of little-known Morehead State in Kentucky. "Phil Whoed?" was more like it.

 

 

 

Manning was from NFL royalty, the son of Archie and brother of Peyton and the first pick of the 2004 draft from Mississippi who power-played his way to the Giants by forcing the Chargers to trade him -- for a king's ransom, no less. The bold move by former GM Ernie Accorsi was greeted mostly by cheers from the draftniks in the peanut gallery.

 

In a picture-perfect world, it would be oh-so easy to connect the dots between the journeys of both players. It took Simms seven years' worth of injuries, benchings and interceptions before winning over Giants fans by beating the Broncos, 39-20, in Super Bowl XXI on Jan. 25, 1987.

 

 

In a performance for the ages, Simms completed 22 of 25 passes for 268 yards and three TDs. He was 31. Not exactly an overnight sensation. Now 52, there must be great satisfaction at hearing from fans that he was the team's best quarterback ever.

 

"People do say it, and I don't know that I even have a reaction to it now," Simms said. "My playing career, the Super Bowl ... it was all nice and I remember it, of course. I don't mean this in a bad way, but it was like another life."

 

Manning, 27, has spent his first four seasons in a quest to win over Giants supporters but always falling short. Falling short in comparisons to the record-setting Peyton and even his first-round 2004 QB classmates, Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers.

 

Falling short until the last month, that is.

 

In three road playoff victories, Manning completed 62.4 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and no interceptions. In the regular-season finale loss to the Patriots, which did wonders for the team's psyche going into the postseason, Manning was 22-for-32 (68.8 percent) for 261 yards, four TDs and one INT.

 

The clichés abound. How to explain why Manning went from an erratic quarterback with 19 TDs and 19 INTs in the first 15 games to a composed orchestrator (eight TDs, one INT) in the past four?

 

"I don't know," Simms said. "We need, 'My God, the light's come on! The game's slowed down! He's matured right before our eyes!' But I don't know that Eli's taken a leap.

 

"I don't look at him and go, 'Oh. my gosh, I can really see it.' I see certain things in the results, though."

 

It can be as simple as that. Timing is everything in life and quarterback play. Who knows this better than Simms?

 

"Hey, they've won, Eli's played well, and it came at playoff time," he said. "So we're going to over-evaluate, over-talk it. It can't be, 'Nice, solid three weeks.' That's no good. What kind of story is that?"

 

Not nearly sexy enough for today's NFL, which Simms calls a "tabloid-journalism league right now." As the top game analyst for CBS, he knows well what stories sell.

 

"I've watched it change dramatically the last two to three years," Simms said. "Just a case in point: (Patriots quarterback) Tom Brady has a so-so playoff game (in the AFC championship win over the Chargers), and it's, 'Oh, he must have been hurt.'

 

"C'mon, it's football. The difference between success and failure is an unbelievably small one. No matter who you are."

 

 

 

Paul Needell may be reached

 

at pneedell@starledger.com

 

 

 

NJ.com

 

[JMFP]

Great article, thanks. Really puts things in perspective.

[Lubeck]

A member of the sports media who admits it is all hype. Simms is a fan favorite not just because of what he did as a Giant, but also for his honesty. It is what makes him really the best game caller on any channel.

[BIGBLUE01]

Great Article, really puts Eli's situation in perspective. Thanks.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

A member of the sports media who admits it is all hype. Simms is a fan favorite not just because of what he did as a Giant, but also for his honesty. It is what makes him really the best game caller on any channel.

I wish he called FOX games....even though he would be sympathetic to his old team...he would call it as it is without the homerism of an Aikman or other former players turned analysts. Sort of a modern day Pat Summerall.

[Clarence the Blue Puppet]

Is there a guy in football with more class than Simms? I doubt it.