BILL AND PHIL: Bill Parcells makes a point with Phil Simms during a 1990 game. Simms says Parcells never minced words, which let players know exactly where they stood with the demanding coach. (AP)
As told to Steve Serby.
I first met Bill Parcells when he was the defensive coordinator for the Giants in 1981. In that first meeting, I could tell right off the bat he had a great personality for coaching. I know all of the defensive players really took to his style right away.
Bill’s form of communication was what made him so different, whether it being sarcasm or prodding you, he just had a way of doing it. He added a great human touch to coaching football players in a tough business. I saw players yell back at him on the field. Sometimes Bill would turn and walk away. I’d go, “Wow!” You just didn’t see it.
One of his greatest motivators was fear. The wrath of him, the fear for your job, whatever you want to call it.
Anytime I’m in public, giving a speech, or talking to Giant fans, I always ask them one question, “Do you think Bill Parcells was tough?”
Everybody nods their heads in agreement and says, “Yeah. He was tough.”
Then I say, “You have no idea.”
To me, Bill’s No. 1 belief in football is that it’s tough. There’s only one way to get ready — be tough in the classroom and practice hard. We did both. To Coach, every day on the practice field was the most important day of our NFL careers. We always practiced under pressure to get ready for that weekend’s game. Ex-teammates and I always joke that the games were much easier than practice ever was.
Athletes always say, all they want from their coach is honesty. Well, be careful what you wish for. Coach Parcells and his assistants were brutally honest. It takes a while to get used to it, but once you do, it eliminates any gray lines. With Coach Parcells, you always knew where you stood as a player.
People always think that I had this tremendously contentious existence with Coach, but that’s not true. We had one big flare up on national TV in 1990. On third down that night, I threw a short pass to Maurice Carthon that was incomplete. As I was walking off the field, Coach said to me, “Come on, Phil. You gotta hit that!”
“I know, but the ball was tipped by a defensive lineman,” I said.
To that, he immediately shot back, “Don’t make excuses.”
From there, we both exchanged some heated words. When it was over, it was amazing how many players came up and said, “Oh, you’re The Man!” They’d come up: “How’d it feel? Was it great? I’d like to yell at him like that, too.”
Make no mistake — even though we had that argument on national TV, never once in my eight years under Bill Parcells did I not know that he was the head coach of the New York Giants and I was a player for the New York Giants. I always knew who he was and what he stood for.
When he sat me down and told me he was going with Scott Brunner instead of me in 1983, he asked me, “You got anything to say about that?”
I said, “Yeah, I disagree with it, Bill. I tell you what, I’d like for you to get me out of here.” I think I said, “You and I can’t work together.”
He said, “I’ll try to make it happen.”
Well, he couldn’t make it happen. I never asked him if he tried. He and I never talked about it.
One story I’ll never forget took place in February 1984 in the weight room at Giants Stadium. I was working out when Coach came in and we started talking. He said, “If I survive, we are going to do things my way from now on.”
When we went to training camp in July of ’84, Coach Parcells was an entirely different coach. He was vocal in leading the players and very decisive in what he wanted. I learned a great lesson from him that summer: You’ve got to be true to who you are. I guess it’s safe to say, he did things his way.
I’ll never forget the opening game of the ’84 season against the Philadelphia Eagles. Coach was standing at the locker room door saying things to players as they walked by. As I passed him, he says, “Hey Simms, if you don’t throw at least two interceptions today, you’re not taking enough chances.” I’m thinking, “Wow! What a thing to say to a quarterback!” It was his way of giving me a quick message to try to take the pressure off so I could relax and go out and play to the best of my ability.
He did the same thing in Super Bowl XXI. All week long he kept telling me, “Make sure you’re aggressive and don’t be afraid to take a chance.”
After we won, I remember his smile, I had to go through the coaches’ locker room or something, he just goes, “Simms, you were magnificent.”
People misunderstand what he was as a coach. He liked being a risk taker, he loved that. If I threw the ball out in the flat for a 5-yard completion, sometimes he’d yell at me: “Throw it downfield!” They thought it was nothing but a cloud of dust, which was far from the truth.
I think I speak for a lot of ex-Giant players when I say that Bill had a tremendous impact, not only on our careers, but on our lives as well. There’s hardly a day that goes by when I don’t say or tell someone a Bill Parcells saying. There were so many of them. One of my favorites is, “Do I have to compliment you guys on playing hard? I’d like to think I could just take that for granted.”
I always tell young quarterbacks some of the lessons I learned from Bill. One being: Lead the team. Don’t worry about whether or not everybody on the team likes you. It doesn’t matter. No matter how you treat some players, they are not going to like you simply because you’re the quarterback. Once when our offensive line was not playing well, he yelled at them in practice. When he was done yelling, he turned around and looked at me and said, “Simms, it’s your fault. These players used to fear you. But now, you’re their buddy. You take them to dinner. You buy them gifts. Quit trying to be their friend and lead them on the field.”
On my ride home, I’d think about it and I’d go, “Gosh, he’s right.” I kinda lost a little bit of an edge.
His belief is complacency is always what you have to guard against in the NFL, and you always have to guard against it with good football teams. We beat the 49ers 49-3 in the ’86 playoffs, and the next day, all he did was gripe about the offensive line: “You let the quarterback get hit too many times. We’ll never win.” It almost immediately took the joy out of winning the game.
I think all of us can recall some of our best teachers. You remember their methods, how they interacted with you, what made them great. Whenever I get together with ex-Giants players, half our conversation is spent reminiscing about Bill Parcells — the good and the bad.
It’s not all about the players; it’s also about the head coach. In today’s game, the head coach sets the table to give players the chance to get things done. Coach Parcells did an awesome job setting the table.
I’m happy for him. I’m proud of him. It’s well-deserved. It’s a year too late.