One byproduct of having to learn an entirely new offense, Phil Simms recalls, is that he started talking to himself.
“I would be driving down in the offseason, I wasn’t texting because we didn’t have cellphones then, but I had the play sheet calling out plays, ‘OK, red right …,’” Simms told The Post, “and if people were driving by me, they were like, ‘Who’s he talking to?’ That part was fun.’’
Pardon Simms if he does not get emotionally overwrought analyzing what Eli Manning went through this spring studying the new West Coast offense installed by first-year offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo. It is a major undertaking for Manning, who in his first decade in the NFL operated one system. Manning says he has spent more time studying at home, more time studying at the Giants’ training facility and admits he’s nowhere near as familiar yet with McAdoo’s offense as he was with the Kevin Gilbride model that helped produce two Super Bowl titles.
Simms looks back on his own experience as the Giants’ quarterback, looks at Manning’s body of work and sees no reason why this new approach won’t work for 33-year-old Eli.
“Is it a drastic change and all that stuff? Yeah, maybe in the philosophy it could be,’’ Simms said. “I know Green Bay’s offense, I’ve watched it a lot over the last years and talk a lot about it. Of course Eli’s gonna adjust to it. Is it a big adjustment? In my eyes, no it’s not. He’s a pro, he’s won the Super Bowl twice, if you tell him to run on his feet, he does it, if you tell him OK, now we’re gonna start running on our hands, he goes, ‘OK, I can do that too.’ Will there be timing issues and grave mistakes because of it? There might be some mistakes … but I just can’t imagine it’s gonna be that hard.’’
For 14 years, Simms essentially ran the same offense with the Giants before 1993 and the arrival of Dan Reeves. Year No. 15 for Simms proved to be a challenge, but he enjoyed a fine season, his last in the NFL, posting a career high in completion percentage (61.8) and achieving his third-highest quarterback rating (88.3) as the Giants went 11-5.
“It was a whole new system, a whole new way of teaching the exact same routes I had thrown with the Giants for 14 years,’’ Simms said. “It was ‘Now when you run this play, I want you to look at it this way.’ And I’d go, ‘Wow, really?’ You do it and you find it to be fun and challenging. Once you have the experience Eli does in the NFL, you like classroom work and you like trying to learn. I never remember going, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is so hard, I can’t believe I’m doing this.’ It’s just the opposite. The different voice telling it to you is a good thing too. The message, the personality, everything is changing and those are the good parts for the Giants offense.’’
Simms is not quick to dismiss Gilbride’s offense — “There’s a tremendous part of me that says the Giants won two Super Bowls with that offense and their style of offense in those big games was one of the big reasons they won those games’’ — and it comes as little surprise that he does not genuflect when discussing the West Coast offense, which he witnessed first-hand all those years facing the rival 49ers.
“I always laugh about we have to make the sign of the cross … THE WEST COAST OFFENSE … ooooooh,’’ Simms said. “If you’re a good quarterback, you can play any system and you can excel at any system. That’s my whole thought. The right people around you calling the plays, they’re gonna get it done.’’
Simms, though, does anticipate Manning looking different this season. Not holding onto the ball quite so long and not throwing the ball down the field as aggressively as in the past should take some physical pressure off Eli.
“If I didn’t see some difference in him physically, I would be surprised,’’ Simms said. “If you were a Giants fan, you should be disappointed. It should look different, and rightly so. They can have the exact same plays they’ve run in the past but a different voice, a different person, a different personality in relating that message to him and everything is going to change what we see on the field. It can be a little faster, quicker, who knows? I’m anxious to see too. To tell you the truth, I’m a little curious myself.’’