CORTLAND — Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow were the quarterbacks everyone came to watch during Saturday’s Green and White scrimmage, but it was Matt Simms who made the play of the night.
Simms threw a 31-yard strike to wide receiver Raymond Webber for a touchdown on the final play of the scrimmage, easily the offensive highlight of the evening.
“Was it Matt Simms or Phil Simms?” Jets coach Rex Ryan said with a smile afterward. “He looked pretty darn impressive.”
Simms, hoping to follow in the footsteps of father Phil and brother Chris as NFL quarterbacks, has seen limited repetitions in practice during the opening week and a half of training camp. That has been thanks to the presence of not only Sanchez and Tebow, but also Greg McElroy, expected to be a lock to make the team as its third quarterback.
But Simms isn’t worried about that, and instead is thankful for the opportunity to show what he can do.
“I don’t really look at it like that,” he said. “I’m really just trying to go out every day and learn as much as I can, take advantage of the reps that I have, absorb everything from all the other quarterbacks and all the coaches.”
The fact Simms was able to come in and complete both of his passes late in Saturday’s scrimmage — including the touchdown to Webber — without getting many chances in practice impressed his head coach.
“It’s good to see because you get a guy like Matt, who’s really taken very few reps, and all of a sudden you throw him into a live situation and what’s impressive is not only the physical part, which jumps out at you, but the mental part.”
“That’s what you look for in some of the guys that are battling for a third spot … that was good.”
Simms began his collegiate career at Louisville, then transferred to El Camino (Calif.) College for a year before going to Tennessee.
Simms spent the past two years playing for the Volunteers. He appeared in 18 games before going undrafted this spring and signing with the Jets as a free agent.
“I’m here at camp, so everything’s good,” he said. “Everyone wants to be drafted, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out like that, so [I’m] just going to take advantage of my opportunity.”
After his performance Saturday, he’ll be hoping to get more of them as camp continues.
— Additional reporting
by
Steve Serby.