The rumors became true and CBS has demoted Phil Simms from his spot as lead NFL game analyst to “upgrade” to Tony Romo?
Simms Wiki Photo
Time will tell if CBS jumped the gun by putting a novice with little to no experience in a pressure spot like this. Remember when other former NFL players with little or no experience got in front of the camera?
Players like, Lawrence Taylor, Joe Montana, Joe Namath and O.J. Simpson left a mark of failure after hanging up their spikes.
Now the argument from football fans will be, ‘Why not Romo? He’s gotta be better than Simms.’ and when you look at the list of Simms’ WTF-did-he-just-say gaffes, they do have a point.
I have to wonder if the nuns at his St. Rita Catholic school feel like whacking him on the knuckles with a ruler whenever they hear him spout out one of his keen observations like:
“For it to be a forward pass, it’s got to go… forward!”
Or the much much loved:
“When things go bad, it’s not going to look good.”
And of course the famous deep analysis regarding what happens when a team calls time out in a game:
“That’s a good timeout by the Denver Broncos, because the clock stops.”
Well the clock just stopped on Simms this week and it’s not because of Father Time. It’s because there is a likable younger former player named Romo anxious to fill his shoes and the network must feel like it’s time for a change.
Romo has a pretty sharp wit at times and has always been a stand up dude, win or lose. But it takes a lot more than that to entertain millions of fans during pregame, four quarters of football and postgame. There is no sitting on the bench between series for Romo now and this new venture may feel like an all-out blitz Week One next season.