Product Description

An in-depth and surprising look at the game, Sunday Morning Quarterback will dramatically change the way you watch football.

You've heard all the football clichés: "Their offense is too predictable," or "They've got to win the turnover battle," or "They didn't make any halftime adjustments." Perhaps you've heard them so often that you've come to see them as obvious truths. Phil Simms, after an illustrious career as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback and a broadcaster, is here to tell you that these—and many other blanket statements taken as gospel—are all myths, and whoever says them has no idea of what they're talking about.

Drilling deep into the core of football, Simms also shows the hidden signs that players look for that can determine the outcome of a game. Whether it's discovering how a linebacker positions his feet before he blitzes or how to react if the safety is eight or nine yards from the line of scrimmage, knowing these "dirty little secrets" gives players and their coaches a tremendous advantage.

In addition, Simms shares his insights into the enormous challenges coaches face in today's game, evaluating the top coaches and what makes them successful. He takes a look at some of the greatest players he's played with and against, and what he misses most about the game—waking up Monday mornings feeling beat up and sore. He looks at the next generation of football players—his son, Tampa Bay's Chris Simms, among them.

Through it all, Simms shares stories from his playing days with Bill Parcells and the New York Giants, and the inside access he's had as an announcer for one of the top NFL broadcasting teams in football.

Fun and lively, Sunday Morning Quarterback should be required reading for anyone who loves football.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #828306 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-01
• Released on: 2004-10-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Former New York Giants quarterback Simms draws on his outstanding NFL career and his current role as a CBS analyst to gamely dissect TV's overly simple, glib analyses—including Simms's own. Written with NFL.com national editor Carucci, the book uses the same recipe that has made Simms one of the NFL's top broadcasters: an easy, conversational tone with a healthy dose of insight from Simms's experience. Are "mobile quarterbacks" always better? What's a "player's coach"? What's the "West Coast offense"? These are just a few of the subjects Simms explores, as he both explains and lets the air out of some of the most popular made-for-TV football clichés. What sets the book apart, however, are the many personal anecdotes Simms offers, in which he shares his unique perspective on key moments of great games and some of the NFL's most intriguing personalities, such as coaches Bill Parcells and Bill Belichik. The iconic Parcells, Simms's coach in New York, with whom Simms won two championships, gets a whole chapter, and the book brims with examples of Parcells's impact on Simms, as a quarterback, an analyst and a person. Another chapter helps readers see the difference between good and great. This is a good book from a great football mind.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Phil Simms led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl championships and owns nineteen team records. After retiring in 1993 with fifteen NFL seasons under his belt, Simms has become part of CBS's top play-calling team. He lives in New Jersey.

Customer Reviews

Insightful book by thoughtful, knowledgeable player/analyst
Very readable, informative, enjoyable book by a former Super Bowl MVP quarterback and my favorite TV football analyst. Simms is not coasting on his reputation. He prepares for each week's broadcast with the same seriousness of purpose with which he formerly prepared to quarterback the Giants. Simms has always dedicated himself to self-improvement--even improving his throwing mechanics during his second decade as an NFL quarterback. His journalism reflects his professionalism; Simms respects his audience. For example: "I try to stay away from buzz terms such as 'Two Deep' or 'Eight in the Box.' Instead, I'll talk about the defense 'crowding the line of scrimmage.'" (p. 125).

"Sunday Morning Quarterback" dispels countless false "truisms" that less analytical/knowledgeable NFL broadcasters spew because they are too lazy to dig deeper.

Simms vividly describes the challenges NFL quarterbacks face that average fans (like me) don't appreciate. Simms argues persuasively that, even today, many NFL teams fail to adequately coach and drill quarterbacks in their throwing motion. He explains that it's easy for fans and journalists to second-guess plays that don't work out well, such as a reverse that gets stopped in the backfield or a draw play in an "obvious" passing situation. But, he argues, the very "obviousness" of a call makes it less desirable. Also, even when a particular play "fails," it can achieve the objective of confusing defenses and preventing them from "reading" plays too quickly (and, thus, attacking immediately). Planting seeds of doubt may slow down a defense's reaction by a second, which can be the difference between an interception and a long pass completion on the next play.

Simms argues that the prominence of highlight films has made fans less patient ("Why can't we do that?"). Highlight reels, he points out, leave out all the busted plays and short gains. Also, every "highlight" is a "lowlight" for another team.

He notes that quarterbacks who scramble reduce their ability to notice open receivers and reduce the portion of the field to which they can throw. He neglects to follow up by pointing out that smart defenses will react to a scrambling quarterback by compressing their defense toward the side of the field the quarterback is scrambling to (esp. the sideline toward which the quarterback is running). But he makes plenty of great points that will get fans thinking. He does, for example, add that a scrambling quarterback should keep his head looking downfield and shoulders parallel with the line of scrimmage as he runs towards the sideline. He says Manning and Brady have been trained to do this and complete more passes because they look downfield while scrambling.

One place I vehemently disagree with Simms is his belief that "good size, a good throwing arm, and the ability to move reasonably well [plus] common intelligence" are more important in NFL quarterback prospects than "how they handle pressure and other mental aspects" which he terms "intangibles" (pp. 75-76). On p. 180 of my book, "Management Secrets of the New England Patriots," I cite former NFL quarterbacks Joe Theismann and Jim Harbaugh who say that toughness is a quarterback's most important attribute. At Michigan, Tom Brady was small, weak-armed, and slow. The Patriots drafted him for his toughness, competitiveness, intelligence, and calmness under pressure. None of these were "intangible." You can't measure them statistically at the scouting combine, but you can measure them by studying game film, talking with teammates, etc. The Patriots saw those "intangibles." Brady has added twenty pounds to his frame, strengthened his arm, and remains slower than many nose tackles. "Intangibles" cannot be taught because character is far harder to change than muscle mass. I'm not sure Simms even believes his own words because he later contradicts himself: "Your philosophical beliefs determine whether you win or lose. ...[W]hat you believe in--great physical conditioning, toughness, practicing under pressure--forms the core" (p. 149). And his entire Chapter 7 describes the many mental challenges of playing quarterback!

Some might criticize Simms for his apparent jealousy that Joe Montana had the good fortune of being drafted by Walsh's Niners, but I admire and appreciate his candor. I wish we could re-run history and see what Simms would have done in Montana's place. Simms' story of Walsh telling Simms, during pre-draft scouting, to throw slower does suggest that Walsh's system would have enabled Simms to post even bigger numbers.

enjoyed it
an insightful and quick read. the stuff about parcells is especially good. great for any NFL fan.

Expected a lot more from Phil Simms
My wife is a footbal junkie. We were the first people in our known universe to spring for DirecTv and the NFL package. My son could sing the Eagles fight song before he could ask for a bottle (I'm not kidding). So when a Superbowl champion QB tells me he's going deep on strategy, I think I'm going to learn something. Well here it is: Just because you can play, and just beacuse you can comment on things that happen in front of you, doesn't mean you can write a book. I had a hard time finishing it, and that is saying something.