Phil Simms UNLOADS on Giants Coaching, Leadership & Jaxson Dart’s Development

Phil Simms UNLOADS on Giants Coaching, Leadership & Jaxson Dart’s Development

talk those Giants. We welcome in Giants legend Phil Sims. Phil, how you been? Been a while. Yeah, it’s been a while. I like how you let into me. You got to give me that Balance of Nature Phil thing. So, you know, what what am I going to say? Look, I’m proud of being part of Balance of Nature. I didn’t Well, whatever. I’ll leave Boomer and Gio out of this, too. We got some peppers for you, Phil. Yeah. Phil, what do you think here? the state of your beloved New York football Giants. Oh boy. Well, listen, I think everybody was well to many things. One, it shows you they’re not quite at the level even close to where they want to be when you can never win a close game or when you have leads and you lose them. That says something there. I would say overall though, looking at the team, you know, disappointment is on the defensive side. The offensive line has been, I think, uh, surprisingly good running the ball, protecting the quarterback. Okay. Uh, they have the quarterback. I think we all agree upon that. And it’s, um, it here we go. It’s close. Okay. It’s close. Every game they’ve been playing since after the 0 and3 start or whatever, they’ve been extremely competitive and had chances to probably win them all. And I think that explains the team. I know that of course Brian Dball I feel bad that they let him go but as coaches around the NFL look at this roster. Look at how they played this year. Forget the record. There’s a lot of guys and coaches that would love to have that giant job because I think it’s something you can say all it needs is a little more and it’s going to be good. You know, Phil, you’ve never sugarcoated stuff. That’s one of the reasons why we all love you here. So I I I hear you on the personnel stuff. The O line was really good the other day and they’ve taken some steps forward. But to me, it’s less about the team at le terms of the roster right now and more about the the health of the organization, which is why I think they need somebody as the head coach who’s done it before. Where do you stand on what’s going to be a very extensive and a very important search for the Giants next head coach? Well, you know, BC, I I don’t really know the answer to that question. I don’t think they have to have somebody that’s done it before. You know, sometimes the guy that’s done it before already got fired somewhere and then what did he do there? Let’s judge that a little closer. I’m not going to get into who I in my mind, I have two or three assistant coaches. If the Giants hired them, I’m not going to say who they are. I’m not backing out or anything like that. It’s just I’m Hey, I played for the Giants. I work for the Giants in a certain capacity and I’m just going to be truthful this. There’s a couple assistants out there that I think are perfect for the Giant job and as it gets closer, we’ll see where it goes. Do you believe that the Giants failures has been more about poor coaching or under man roster or just effort from players in general specifically on the defense? What do you think is the biggest reason why the Giants yet again are two and nine? Well, you know, look, I’ll I’ll be the fan here for a minute. You know, I’m just not happy with how situations are used or done. Um, so it’s I guess you say it some of the coaching, some of the decision- making on both sides of the ball. You know, we just keep talking about the offense. Oh, they shouldn’t have thrown this pass and that. But on the defensive side, come on. That’s the biggest disappointment of all of this New York Giants football team. I mean, we expected the defense, at least I did, to not be good. I expected them to be damn dominant. And it’s not that they just have a defensive line. They got depth there, too, where they can bring guys in and out and keep them fresh. And to me, that that was probably that’s probably the biggest thing that I’ve looked at and been disappointed in in the football team as the defensive line has not dominated like I thought they would. Well, Phil, I think we all have that expectation. I remember saying during the during the summer like, hey, this could be a top 10 Giants defense and getting a lot of sacks and, you know, very sudden flipping fields and forcing turnovers. So, we all thought that. Why hasn’t that happened? Well, I think, you know, listen, um I I’m disappointed in the coaching on the defensive side. I’m just going to be honest there. it there’s situations, you know, Shane Bowen came in and when he was at Tennessee and, you know, we don’t know if it’s his ideas or Pete’s being told some of this stuff, but man, down in Tennessee, they were a blitzing team and they would Hey, they the team wasn’t very good, but the damn defense could play a lot of good games and I thought, wow, that’s going to cover up some of the weaknesses the Giants had. Uh, I didn’t see it last year. now that they have a better roster. I just wish they were more aggressive on the defensive side. Um, so that that’s really a big complaint that I have about the football. Well, let follow up on that and something else I think we all agree on. So, we talk about this, but how does it work on on game day? So, Dable is an offensive guy. They might go offense, it might go defense, independent of that. When the head coach, who’s an offensive mind, sees things happening on defense that he doesn’t like, he’s obviously either got to walk down the hole during the week or walk down the sideline and find the coordinator and say, “Yo, what are we doing? Let’s mix it up.” That didn’t seem to happen enough. And am I overstating how often that haps h excuse me, happens for the successful teams. Well, yeah. You you know, yeah, I think there’s always great there should be great communication between the head coach and the coordinators. There’s no doubt about it. And you know, I hate saying these things and people, oh, you’re still talking about the old days, but I can remember standing there or something and Bill Parcels on the headset talking to Bill Bich and it wasn’t like, hey, you’re doing a great job, coach. You know, and it was I would even chuckle sometimes going, damn, he’s getting all over Bellich. But I I always think that that’s the head that’s the job of the head coach to manage the game. Manage the game means many things. Going for it on fourth and three, uh, punting the ball on fourth and one, but also managing the coordinators and, you know, that you get a feel for the game and you go, “Hey, come on. Let’s go. Let’s let’s send some guys. Let’s let’s put more pressure on them. You know, we got it. We’re covering well, whatever it is.” And the same on the offensive side. Hey, let’s take a few chances here. This is set up to do this. Whatever. There’s many many uh scenarios that you can bring up there. So that that’s one of the things I love about what I do now. On Sundays, I watch all these games. I got three TVs, man. We’re watching it. We’re all talking, laughing, and man, the management of games by NFL coaches. This might be the worst year ever of what they around the league, you know, going for everything on fourth down. Well, analytics said it was 52%. Well, analytics is stupid. How’s that? Okay. Boy, Phil, these analytic things get way out of control because it’s the out for the coaches. Well, analytics said, you know, I should do this, so that’s why I’m being aggressive because that’s who we are. We’re aggressive. That’s the other term I hate hearing. Oh, we’re just aggressive. No, you know, you might be aggressive, but at this point in time, that was not the right call. Yeah. I mean, just just just leaving the opport leaving points off the board without take kicking field goals. I’m not saying you can’t be aggressive in certain spots, Phil, but so many of these coaches, they just forego the three points like it’s nothing. It changes the game. I write them down every week. Um, as I’m watching games, you know, the old story, chasing the points, it’s real and it’s wrong. And I shouldn’t say it’s wrong. Most of the time it is wrong. And you know, I learned through a couple coaches, and again, you know, I think Bill Parcels, I’ll bring his name up all the time, that he’s one of he was one of the greatest game managers in history. And there were certain things, just for example, we played the championship game against the Washington Redskins in ‘ 86. And we take the win instead of the opposite of taking the ball or making them take it. So, we had the wind behind us. And I said, “So, why are we doing this?” He goes, “I just want to get ahead. I don’t care if it’s three to nothing, that score, we’re starting to put pressure on them right away. And when we do that, we got them. Yeah. And you know, and it it it’s so true, you know, and you So, you’re saying it, take the damn three points. We’re going for two in the first quarter, some of these coaches. Uh it it’s so Oh, well, you you know my I love it. So, so Phil, I I hear you. I’m not going to disagree, but I’m going to give you something else to chew on and and offer a little more clarity here. You can disagree. I’m I’m No, no, I would. But I don’t fully I would, but I don’t fully disagree. I just want to kind of go through a different part of the conversation. So, you talk about your day, right? And we all miss those days. But three points mattered more because guy teams didn’t drive down the field in 33 seconds with one timeout. It’s a different league. So the emphasis and chasing points while it fails a lot, I do understand it more so now because it’s a different league, Phil. Well, I I’m going to disagree in many things. Yes, it is a different uh league. There’s no doubt about that. But also the scenario chasing it when you chase it, that’s always big. Uh so you got to make those decisions, you know, like going forward like you’re saying. Well, okay, we we hear the analytics, we all this talk, but let’s go into what the game really is that day where points are going to be extremely valuable. And you know, I go back to the when we watch Detroit and Philadelphia play. Oh my gosh, that was Come on, it just right away. Let’s go for it. Let’s go for it. Oh, go for it. Yeah, you’re playing probably the best defensive front in the damn NFL. Okay. And and that but we’re going to go for it on fourths and three. Yeah. What what are you going to do now? They can cover, they can rush, they can stop the run, but no, let’s do it because that’s who we are. Well, you you got to be versatile. You got to be able to adjust. And that’s the thing about analytics and sometimes this when I say these outs, we’re aggressive. This is what we do. I I don’t want to hear it. BT on the fan. We’re talking with Phil Sims. We got plenty to get to here. I want to go back to the Giants for a second. Big picture. Phil, you mentioned before that you think they have a better roster. What do you think overall of the job Joe Shane has done in four years? Well, you know, I don’t have the problem with it that everybody else does out there, like, oh my gosh, he picked this guy and this guy. You know, you can go to every team and I’ll show you a lot of bad draft picks. Uh, so he’s hit on some big ones, too. So, I look, they’re involved with it down there. The hierarchy, the owners, whatever you want to say, they’re of course love their team. They want the fans to be happy. That’s the Maraway. Mar’s way. There’s no doubt about that. Um, so overall, I think he’s hit some home runs and you know these high How do we like Jackson Dart? Is that okay? Is he okay? Yeah, I think he’s okay. And you know, some of these other going and getting Brian Burns. Oh my gosh, that would change that. He changes your damn team. Brian Burns and the leader. If he’s not the leader of that football team, I don’t know who the hell is because it’s effort, it’s emotion, it’s every dang game with uh Brian B. He’s a stud and nobody’s going to push back on that. But I’m happy you specifically use the word leader because to me, and I’m not there as you know from where I’m sitting, the Giants seem leaderless because if they and I know what LT did, taking naps, but that was LT. when you’re late for meetings or you’re missing walkthroughs, like what veteran? It doesn’t seem to be Dexter. Burns doesn’t seem to have that personality. Who is who is putting the Young Bucks in place? They don’t seem to have leadership. Phil, well, we’re not going to know what goes inside the media and locker locker room. So, we don’t know that. I would be shocked if if Bill Carter is not getting the air full from some of the defensive players. And of course, he’s getting the answer a little bit from the coaching staff. I listen I I can’t imagine something like that happening with all the head coaches I had with the New York Giants. Yeah. So the punishment would be quick and it would be severe. Mhm. Now we might not know about it. They might keep it under wraps a little better in today’s world where everything gets out. But yeah, it’s unacceptable. And I’m sure the teammates just didn’t go, “Oh, it’s okay.” No, I I don’t think that’s I I think it’s a little more than that. I think on the defensive side, they got a couple guys that would speak up and keep you in line. And I feel pretty safe in saying that too about the Giants defense. Okay. Okay. And again, you know, like Deion Dawkins said what he said the other day, you know, from the Bills perspective. I’m not saying that nobody on the Giants said anything, but there’s there’s attempted leadership and there’s like effective leadership. And the fact that it seemed to be fairly repeated with with Abdul Carter. Yeah, guys may have said something. He didn’t get the message, Phil. Well, yeah. I there’s, you know, a little things. I had a good thought in my mind about that is that we really don’t know that, but yes, I wish there was a unit on the team that we knew was going to be vocal, physical, vocal, and do the right stuff to do the right job. And maybe I kind of So, I’m kind of agreeing with you there. Okay. You stuff like that. I I’m not going to give the names, but Lawrence Taylor would speak up. And one time we had a little problem on the offensive side with the receiver and Lawrence walked up to him and said, “Hey man, I want you to play well today.” But after this game, if we lose, I just my I can’t even say what he said. Oh man, beat him up. But he basically said, “I’m going to beat your ass when we Oh man, that’s awesome. That is leadership.” Yep. But but here here’s where what happens. There’s a a guy or two on the team that is on that and the coach permeates it down to the players. And of course the coach was a great leader and you know the old thing I mean I always say this too every day was the most damn important day for eight years under Bill Parcell. And and I really mean that. I mean it was incredible the pressure on practice. You know, you want to go the old who said that? Pra. Oh, Alan Averson, practice. Uh, you know, that’s what you think sometimes, but not not when the leader is out there telling you it better be good. If it’s not, you’re going to hear it big time the following day. And what it does, especially when you’re playing teams and you know you’re better than. Uh, of course, that’s not the case with the Giants this year. You never look at a game and go, “Wow, they should win this game going away.” That that’s not possible. Phil, what do you think of the play calling with Jackson Dart? There’s been a lot of criticism nationally, locally about the Giants relying too heavily on him to run the football. What are you seeing from Jackson Dart? Not just his play overall, but the idea of the play calling running him potentially too much. Well, they’re trying to win the game. So, I don’t have the I’m I’m not against that like a lot of people. Listen, to me, the problem is Jackson Dart in that situation. You got it’s it’s not that difficult. You got to you got to know when the play is coming close to an end. And you know, as a quarterback, he’s running. I’m sure he sees everybody around him as he’s running and he’s doing whatever, but you you got to get down. And you know, you got to you got to live to play another play. You know, that’s it’s almost like passing. Passing it’s great if you can throw it down the field and hit a big one. We need you to hit all the routine throws. And those plays they set up for him, I thought they were extremely welld designed. they were by and large working in favor of the Giants but he takes it just that little bit that two extra steps and that’s the situation he is in. Yeah. So surely he has learned it’s like quarterbacks I don’t know who I said this about last week uh on a podcast I said he’s throwing interceptions. Your only goal this week to do in this game and it’s going to hamper you a little bit. Never throw an interception. don’t even get close to taking a chance or anything where it can happen because you want to get your confidence back. You want to help your team and you want the team to believe in you. Yeah. You know, and let’s face it, Phil, well, let me just say sure of course players on the team didn’t kind of read the riot act a little bit for Jackson Dart just because they all know how important he was to the to the football team. No, that kind of goes back to what I was saying about leadership. Another example where maybe it wasn’t done and we all know what he’s doing and we all respect it. He’s a young buck and he’s trying to prove to a bunch of grown men you drafted the right guy and and I’m here to go and and we respect that for sure. We love it. We We just got to make sure he reels it in and I and I think he will at some point. I’ve got a bigger um bigger issue for a question for you maybe more uh a little deeper. So, we’re talking about the old days before and can you imagine, you mentioned Washington Gibbs rolling in or the Eagles with Randall or, you know, whomever, Dallas with with with Landry rolling in and you as the quarterback, not once, but two straight home games having to do a silent snap count because there’s more fans of the other team like GI and I don’t blame Giant fans. They can make money and they haven’t won, so sell the tickets. But the erosion of the the the pride uh that Giant fans have always had. It is sad, doesn’t it? Sadden you. Yeah, it does. It does. It’s a lot to answer there. You know, it it nowadays we need a satisfaction right away. So, you know, no matter what happened with the Giants this year, I don’t know if I really deep down thought they would make the playoffs. I thought, “Wow, if everything falls into place and, you know, this happens and that happens, they can make the playoffs.” But it’s still a rebuilding um franchise. And they’re get, like I said, I think they’re getting closer. They got some guys that can be leaders of the team and people to look up to because of their production and the way they handle themselves. So, but yeah, with the fans, um, actually, I was a little happy. I not happy, but surprised when Green Bay played the Giants. I expect, oh my gosh, it’ll be all Green Bay people, but I thought the Giant fans by and large were into it and, you know, I could hear him as I was watching TV. So, yeah. You know, one thing, as Bill Parcell said, I know I quote him a lot and I don’t care. You know, he said a lot of mean things to me, so sometimes I want to get even, but owners know two things. You know, they count to 11. So, make sure you don’t run a a unit out there that has nine or 10 on it and they can they can see the empty seats and the empty seats are a big deal. Y and they the Giants, you know, when people say the Mars love the football team, that’s an understatement. It it’s it’s beyond that. It’s more than that. They they really truly I think with Wellington and even John talking to them, they they want more for the fans. It’s always about the fans in their eyes and and especially I used to talk to Wellington Mayor a lot and he would always bring it up about the fans, you know, Phil. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Got to win. You got to win to keep the play the the the fans coming and the Giants need to do more of that. Of course, Phil, I know you have a unique taste in glasses. What do you think of Jackson Dart’s glasses? Okay. What the hell was unique about my glasses? Okay. What have you been talking to big fat grandma? Grandma. No, I mean I listen to Boomer and Gio lady calling you lady glasses. I would be curious to get your take on Jackson Thor. Not his arm. Who cares about that? But his glasses that he wears. Are you into that uh that style? Well, I think the first time I saw him, I go, “What the hell is he wearing there?” But you know, listen, he’s young. He’s pretty hip to say the least. I guess that’s the way to say it. Just the way he puts the uniform on and the eye black and everything. So the glasses, I just look at them. I’m getting used to him. I saw him again last night on TV. I was watching something. I go, “Yeah, man. He’s got it all, you know.” So, and what’s really amazing about Jackson Dart is I think the running has been better than we all expected. But I was at training camp a lot and every time I went to training camp, I go, “Damn, he’s doing it better today than he did the other day. This is not this gosh, is this real?” And of course, right in the game, right away, he shows it to us. But his choice of clothes and wardrobe and or wardrobe glasses for him, it’s it’s working. I’m talking. He’s got drip. There’s no doubt. All right. So, we want to get What do you call? He’s got drip. Yeah, a little drip. He’s drippy. Come on, Phil. He’s got a little drip. Got a little swag. Hey, act your age. Come on. You know, jeez. He is. He’s 22. What do I do? You grandma glasses like you. He’s saying you act your age. Yeah. Using the words. Okay, I got you. All right. So, there’s a couple of college quarterbacks that that the Jets very well might have an eye on here. Um, but before we get to that, uh, something along the lines of college, and I know I texted you about this briefly to congratulate you. Morehead State, the stadium in which they play is now called Phil Sim Stadium, recently named after you. What What an honor, man. How amazing was that? Well, yeah, it was great. It really was. You know, it’s um um it’s humbling to say the least. And what was really great about it being back in the school for a long time. I go down there every summer and usually help run a football camp or whatever. Camps are kind of dying everywhere. You know, it’s all about what do they call it? You just come to let the school look at you and how fast you run the 40 in and okay. And we move on to the next school. Y but uh yeah, it was a great honor. I got to see a lot of teammates that I’ve played with that I haven’t seen since we left college. Wow. And so all that and just the support from the fans and hey, Moreheads on a roll, baby. They’ve won four in a row. That’s all I care. So, we care about the stadium, Phil. I was just I was just looking up. I didn’t even know where it was. Kentucky state. Yeah. Kentucky. Okay. Yeah. It’s in Kentucky. Yes. Yes. So, it was it was great. The first thing I got I got hundreds of text messages and they all say congratulations and then they go, “How much did you have to pay him?” Did you cut a check? You had to cut something along the way, Phil. Well, maybe over the Yes, over the years, but I didn’t do it just for this. So, it was great. You know, it really a lot of fun. And what what are you thinking of some of these college quarterbacks that you see? You have one in particular that you want the Jets to get. No, not I don’t have one particular now because there’s too much time left in the college football season, off season. Let’s see. And, you know, you get a chance to really look at them. Hey, it it’s it’s going to be a a I don’t know if it’s going to be a great quarterback draft, but it’s going to be a big volume of them. And the next two years, there are a lot of pro quarterbacks in college football. And I mean, it’s every style that you want. You know, Ty Simpson of Alabama, he’s an very very good thrower the football and he can really run too. You know, that that’s just one. Of course, Fernando Mendoza. Love him. M I like the way you said that. Yeah. I mean, man, I I covered him one game when they were playing Iowa and that was probably his worst game of the year, but I stood on the field behind him, watched him throw it, I went, “Holy man, it was I know the air and all that. I don’t care. I think I can judge him pretty damn well.” Yeah. But he threw it like a big time pro. And what I do like about We’ll see how the offseason goes, how the rest of the season goes. But the one thing at Indiana, it’s not like this all out offense. It’s a pro offense, you know, they’re they’re playing like they’re a pro football team. They they don’t take chances. They got, you know, they they kind of have the package that you see them do every week and then they add on to it a little. And of course, the quarterback is um tremendous thrower the ball. And, you know, they’re good on defensive line and offensive line. So, it’s going to be fun to watch the playoffs. But those two jump out to me. John Matier, who’s at Oklahoma, has a great arm, can really move around. I This is me just speaking right now. If I was him, I’d stay in college uh one more year to be a little more of a system quarterback. You know, we get all excited about all these things about these quarterbacks and all of a sudden, well, he’s running too much, you know, this and that. And you need experience is real. It is true. If you can get three years of starting quarterback in college and especially if it’s against good competition and you’re on a good team, then you can really judge them that it it becomes much much easier. So saying that the two I just talked about um I think we know a lot about them toate where they go in the draft. I I love Mendoza but obviously I’m not a scout here saying there’s a lot to determine still. One thing and I finally come to this conclusion and listen the Jets being the Jets have gotten my brain twisted over the years trying to evaluate these quarterbacks. So I’ve gotten more wrong than I’ve gotten right admittedly. But I am now of the opinion Phil and I see Drake May doing this like like a like an expert. I see Jackson Dart doing this. One of the most desirable traits. Yeah. How big are you? Fast arms. We get that. Can you manipulate the pocket? Little step to your left, little step back, little step right, little step up to give yourself a window with your eyes up downfield to buy time when the pockets collapsing. I almost think that that is among the most important things for sure for modern quarterbacks. Now, what about you? Well, I would say this right now is I watch this great thing about this. What I do now is Saturday. I watch college football the whole day. It’s awesome. And you know, I see a lot of quarterbacks that manipulate the pocket much better because throwing’s become bigger, of course, in college football. Um, so yeah, you know, Tom Brady, Pton Manning, they were great working the pocket. Why? Because what other choice did they have? Were they going to take off and run? No. So that that’s something that you you look at, too. Then say, “Oh, this guy’s really mobile. He can look at all that good runs.” Yeah, that’s good. But will that transfer to pro football? Unless you are off the charts, Lamar Jackson, uh, to say the least, if you, he was so quick and so fast, he was able to, his running adapted right to the NFL. But there’s not many Lamar Jacksons out there. And the fact that you run too much in college, takes away from the fact of what pro football, no matter how you look at it, it is. It’s a drop back, read it, and make the throw. And we judge these quarterbacks. Damn, do we judge him hard. Ah, Caleb Williams, did they make a mistake? Should they draft a quarterback this year? What do you think? Uh, my gosh, Caleb Williams, he’s tremendous. He’s He’s really, if I had to reddraft him, which I did this on a podcast, reddraft him, I still would take Caleb Williams number one. I mean, I’m not going to say it’s just a shoe in, but big, runs, mobile, throws on the run better almost than anybody I’ve ever seen. Wow. He’s got he’s got a really good arm and he’s being coached and he’s really just becoming a better football player and we like I say we we put too much on these young quarterbacks and it was never that way and all of a sudden we’re ready to judge them after two years and we got to get rid of them. Uh so I don’t even know if I answered your question. All all I heard there was what’s so great about what you do now? You sit there watch football on Sunday, you sit there watch football on Saturday. What is it that you do now? Is this just retired? Like what’s going on in Phil Sims world that you can just sit sit around on your rear end Saturday and Sunday wall to wall and watch all these football games? Well, wait. Don’t make it sound like I’m just a big fat slob sitting there watching TV. You know, I I I what do I do now? I do a lot of that. I talk on, you know, do a lot of podcasts. Not a lot, but I do enough of them to where we can I can have some fun and get my opinion out there and probably counter, which is I’d love to do is counter what I hear on TV. Mhm. Did you know the Cowboys, they can run the table now? They beat the Raiders. Oh my god, the Cowboys are great. Oh, I don’t know how they’ve ever lost the game. I think they can run the table and win the championship. I mean, that’s really basic. I’m being sarcastic, but that’s what people are saying on TV the last couple days. Uh, the Raiders, the Raiders maybe are the worst team in the NFL. Um, you know, they got a lot of work to do. So people on sorry Phil people on radio and TV the last day or so have been ripping Cam Scataboo for participating in wrestling out at Madison Square Garden. Do you see any of that? You have an opinion on Cam Scataboo getting in a a little mixup there with some of the wrestlers. Well, I I I didn’t read it. I know what happened or whatever. And I I just got I would just say this. You shouldn’t have done it. You know, it’s just a bad optic. That’s all it was to me. I went, “Oh, what are you doing? You you know, you just come on. just you don’t have to do it. Just be part of the team, hang around, do your thing, rehab as much as you can and all that. But yeah, so I’m not like crazy mad over it. But all also, if he’d have said something to somebody in the organization, I think they would just go, you know, Cam, we’re so don’t do it, you know, just hang here with us. Yeah. So that’s what we said. Nobody’s saying don’t go, but you don’t have to start shoving people and getting shoved. I mean, you your foot was hanging by a thread. Oh, listen. Boy, you get me going between him and Jackson Dart, man. It was a couple good weeks, you know. It’s just like, wow, the personality of the team changed like overnight and it was exciting. It really was. And you know, all of a sudden, I’m thinking, damn, the Giants, they could probably hang and beat anybody right now in the NFL. So, they found Well, Phil, you sound like those dopes saying that there were that Dallas could beat anybody and win the Super Bowl. So, you made the same mistake, man. No, no. I I y’all you you cut out on me a little bit there. What? What I was saying? Oh, no. I just brought excitement and you felt like they had a chance to win. You know, I’m just with you. Oh my god. Here we are again. You know, down 14 to nothing at the end of the first quarter. You know, I watched the game this past week. Wow. Green Bay, come on. You talk about Jordan Love can do two things right now. He can throw a screen and he can throw it far down the field, but where the game is really played is in between. And man, Green Bay, what happened to their offense? I probably have watched every one of their games and it’s just there’s no in between. It’s bomb it or throw a screen. There’s, you know, the league is in between. It’s where all the plays you have to make, the routine plays, and those are plays you can’t miss. And I don’t know, I know you guys watch the game, but when Malik Willis came in there, bing bomb, boom, whatever, touchdown, uh Jordan Love goes, I’m good. I’m coming back in. And it’s real. Malik Willis last year when he played, he was not good. He was spectacular. And you know, no starting quarterback wants to see the backup come in and have great success. I hope we score, but I hope it’s with you hand it off and he runs 80 yards. you know, like uh you know, like like uh Jeff Hosteller. Well, I don’t know. I’m not How’s that comparison? I mean, when you said you said no starting quarterback wants to see the backup quarterback come in and have success. Did that not happen? Well, no. When you hurt, you don’t give a crap. Oh, all right. I’m just making sure. Last one. Last one for you, Phil. Wait, let me just say so I’m on the field with San Francisco and I want to say hi to Kyle Shanahan, which my son’s best friend’s done all that and he’s and the Shanahans have been very good to me over the years. And Brock Perie is there and I said, Brock, I know where you’re at, man. I said, you want the team to win. You just hope the quarterback doesn’t play too well. And what’d he say? Trying to give him confidence. And of course I I was uh yeah, he kind of smiled and laughed a little bit. I went, “Wow, that was stupid on my part.” Oh, man. But he did. He played I thought he played really well in his first game back and everything like that. And you know, M. Jones, it just goes to show you time, but the right offense, the system around you and all that, you get a chance. He took advantage of it big time. I mean, that’s an understatement really. That’s the guy I think and I’ve always said this right or wrong. That’s who San Francisco wanted and you know even Kyle Shanahan is kind of like yeah it was a lot of time when we did that in a between or whatever and they changed their mind and said Trey Lance and M. Jones you saw what he he would fit and did fit the 49er offense to the tea. I mean everything about what they do that’s what he was and that’s why they moved up in the draft in my opinion was to take M. don’t but public pressure, TV, whatever it is, I don’t know what changed their minds, but it it backfired on them. Last one, Phil. Hoff was telling me, our producer in our ear, that Chador Sanders is going to start this week for the Browns. What are your thoughts on Chador getting the NFL start here against the Raiders this weekend? Well, it’s man, it it’s a great place to start. It really is. And the fact that Dylan Gabriel got a concussion, I said, “Well, there’s no way he’ll be back.” And I look at the Raiders. I watched them play against Dallas and everything like that. I didn’t I haven’t watched Shador’s play yet, but I’ll probably do that later today. Uh, but this is the team. They’ll be ready. It’ll be extremely careful. And then once they get you settled in as a quarterback, what you want to do to I don’t care who the quarterback is. Aaron Rogers, hey, let’s throw two screens. And all of a sudden, I’m just telling you the truth. If I were to throw two screens to start the game, I go, “All right, man. I got it today.” You know, this is good. I feel good. I’m confident now and you know you can make the rest of the throws. So they’ll manage him very well. I I would expect him to play well. The the argument about that he’s not getting reps at practice. Hey, I never got reps until I played. In other words, we didn’t give reps to the backup quarterback. They ran the scout team because and really because there’s so much in a game plan and what you’re trying to do for the game, you don’t have time to be substituting the quarterbacks in and out in practice to make sure the backup is No, the backup is a backup for a reason. So, when he’s called upon, the standards are still high. Won’t be as good as the starter, but um at least gives you a chance. Thank you, Phil. We appreciate your time. Good luck in you know whatever it is that you’re doing now. Hanging out watching football wall to wall Saturday, Sunday feeding the fox. Yeah, I talk. Yeah, I yell the foxes. I got three of them now. So, we just I don’t know what the hell’s happening, but as my wife said the other night, I took food out to the foxes. It was chicken breast. They weren’t cooked. And she goes, “Should I cook them first?” I know I told Boomer this story. I go, “They’re wild animals.” No, they’ll eat it. You know, they eat other animals a lot, so whatever. Yeah. But what about salmonillaa for the foxes? You should have cooked it. Okay, that’s a good answer. There you go. Thank you, Phil. Great job, Phil. Always fun. Uh, you I miss hearing Phil all the time. We had set him up and obviously Phil loves talking football.

BT & Sal welcome Giants legend Phil Simms for a brutally honest breakdown of the state of the New York Giants. Simms doesn’t hold back on the defensive failures, coaching decisions, lack of leadership, Jaxson Dart’s growing pains, and why analytics are ruining NFL game-management.
Plus — Phil shares incredible Bill Parcells stories, locker room dynamics, and reacts to the growing number of opposing fans overtaking MetLife Stadium. A must-watch for every Giants fan.

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