Political Football

It’s pretty obvious that when a certain network game analyst talks about the Jets, you need to take his opinions with a grain of salt . . .

Phil Simms works for CBS.

His son, Matt, a great guy, is a Jets backup quarterback.

I personally wouldn’t even interview Phil about the Jets.

Not only is he generally super-political with most comments that he makes, you throw in the fact that his son is on the team, the politics seem to go to another level.

Back in February, Simms said, during an interview with Chris Russo, “I think if Geno Smith was in this draft class he would be the number one guy, without question.”

A little strong, don’t you think?

Three quarterbacks went in the first round – Blake Bortles (Jacksonville Jaguars), Johnny Manziel (Cleveland Browns) and Teddy Bridgewater (Minnesota Vikings).

Derek Carr was picked at the top of the second round to the Oakland Raiders.

So all these players went higher than Smith did last year.

That isn’t to say Smith won’t end up being better. We have no idea.

But to say, “he would be the number one guy, without question,” in this year’s draft, was hyperbolic.

And then, during a recent interview with SNY, he said, “”I hate to get into all those things, but if you made me pick one, I would pick Geno Smith. I think he’s improved since last year. I thought the way he played at the end of last year probably gave him great confidence, and now he knows what to expect from pro football. Not only the games, but practice, the meetings.”

Simms, like some in the Jets’ brass, are overrating that last month.

He was okay, but you hear people talk about that stretch run, and you would think he took a quantum leap.
First of all, there were two bad games during the stretch run, the first Miami game, and the Carolina Panthers’ contest.

And in the five games in December, he threw just four touchdown passes. He did some nice work with his
legs, but his work through the air, was pedestrian.

So often when I hear Simms speak, on this topic, or other’s, he’s like a politician, whose answers are poll-tested.

Hey, maybe in this media world, where so many comments are blown out of proportion, he needs to hedge his words.

But I find this guy more political than a lot of the other analysts. I thought Rich Gannon and John Lynch were blunt and pointed with their comments on Smith last year.

Simms was also asked by SNY about the controversy of regarding Rex Ryan giving Nick Saban a copy of his defensive playbook, and it perhaps ending up in the hands of Bill Belichick.

“It means zero,” Simms said.

It means “zero?” Then what happened in Cincinnati last year when the Jets got blown out by a team on their level, thanks, in part, to the insights of Greg McElroy?

Let’s be honest, Matt Simms is hanging on by a thread. Tahj Boyd could beat him out for the #3 QB job. Matt Simms looked sub-par in the spring.

There is no way his father is going to say anything to tick off the Jets’ brass.

So praising Geno, and down playing the playbook scandal, were politically expedient things to do.

July 4, 2014

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