If you want to get Chris Simms fired up, just ask him about the criticism his dad Phil Simms faces as an announcer on NFL games for CBS. We learned that while interviewing Chris during Super Bowl week.
Chris Simms is a former Texas Longhorns quarterback who started 16 games over five seasons in the NFL. He now spends his time as an analyst for both CBS Sports and Bleacher Report. While out covering the Super Bowl during the week, Larry Brown Sports caught up with Chris and asked him a few things. We talked about his relationship with his former coach in Tampa Bay, Jon Gruden, as well as his explanation for why the Patriots did not cheat in “Deflategate.” But it wasn’t until the topic of criticism of his dad Phil Simms was brought up that he really got passionate.
“I don’t really know where it comes from,” Chris Simms told Larry Brown Sports. “I don’t think people really know my father. He’s a lot cooler than people would realize. When he’s on a broadcast, he’s respectful. He’s respectful of the players, the teams.
“There’s nobody that works harder than my dad in that business. I don’t really understand the criticism. It pisses me off when you get me talking about it. Here we are at Super Bowl 50, my dad is not even going to come into San Francisco all week. He’s staying [in the San Jose area] because he wants to stay focused on the game. He’s going to both teams’ practices every day. And he’s going to be all over the nuances of the game. And of course he’s incredibly connected.
“So I don’t understand where all the hatred is from. It’s my father and Joe Buck. If they have the greatest telecast ever, people seem to not like it no matter what. I can tell you that Phil Simms and Joe Buck are about the two coolest guys in the industry when they’re off the camera.”
Chris isn’t the only member of the family getting fired up about that topic. We also talked with Phil during the week and asked him about his prep for the game, as well as the swell of criticism he has received. You could tell it angered him, though he said he didn’t listen or pay attention to it. I found that hard to believe; if he was getting so angry about it, that means he does hear it and pay some mind to it.
You can listen to Chris Simms make his comments defending his dad Phil in the video below. It is cued up to the portion talking about Phil. The entire video is worth your time though as he has some great comments about the Deflategate scandal as well.
