As NFL analyst, Simms stands out

Phil Mushnick

EQUAL TIME

What sets CBS’ Phil Simms apart from — and above — TV’s other NFL analysts doesn’t reveal itself when he’s right or when he speaks sense, but when he’s wrong and when he speaks nonsense.

Sunday, deep into the first quarter of Chargers-Bears, he said: “Well this San Diego defense, the one thing it wants to do today is play great run defense ... ”

Then he heard himself say something silly, so he stopped, and added: “Of course, everybody does.”

Such self-awareness and self-ridicule is worth more good-faith points with audiences than 500 “I told-you-so’s.” The dictates of the human condition, added to the non-stop know-it-all spiels of all sports’ analysts, makes Simms a precious commodity in a vast field of fool’s gold.

EPA

NO ONE’S BETTER: Phil Mushnick says CBS analyst and Giants legend Phil Simms is far and away the best on television because he’s the first to admit when he’s wrong and when he’s speaking nonsense on the air.

Simms also is in the habit of saying things such as, “I was wrong,” “I’ll wait to look at the replay,” and, hang on to your hats, “I don’t know.”

Of course, if he were always wrong or always didn’t know, that wouldn’t be very helpful to any of us. To that end, Simms succinctly and suddenly speaks the kind of Main Street football sense that on so many other telecasts is lost to pointless, endless word noise.

Sunday, after Bears quarterback Jay Cutler completed a drop-back, zip pass over the middle despite a defensive lineman steaming head-on, Simms spoke in practical, applicable terms: “If you can’t throw off your back foot in the NFL, you can’t play quarterback.”

Later, San Diego had a third-and-25 from the 50 when it ran the ball for 4 yards, preface to a punt. Without switching to a “Now-hear-this!” mode, Simms calmly let it be known that he was mystified: “If you’re gonna throw it on third-and-long, midfield is the place to do it.”

As the Friends of Distinction quickly sang: “I can dig it, you can dig it, we can dig it.”

On the other hand ...

If there was one thing NBC’s Cris Collinsworth wanted us to know and remember, Sunday night, is that the Eagles have blown fourth-quarter leads all season. When the Giants tied the game early in the fourth, Collinsworth said: “All we need to do is say the words, ‘fourth quarter’ and the Eagles’ defense gives up a touchdown. It’s unbelievable.”

But minutes earlier, Collinsworth expertly, and with emphasis, addressed the Eagles’ defense: “They are built for this; they are built to protect the lead.”

Of course, it’s easy for me to sit back and criticize. Too easy! And, as always, there’s no end to the word noise that smothers ESPN’s Monday Night Football even before Chris Berman gets his weekly halftime shot at it.