Simms gets more reps

 

   Struggling quarterback Chris Simms took some passing reps in the 11-on-11 drills Tuesday with mixed results.

   Simms, who did not play in the Bucs' preseason opener Friday, went 1-of-2 and ran once during his limited action. He still is far behind starter Jeff Garcia, Luke McCown and Bruce Gradkowski.

   In the afternoon session, Simms served as the scout squad quarterback and was intercepted three times.

  ""We're trying to get him some work and you saw what happened,'' Gruden said. ""He did do some decent things and we're trying to work him back in. We've said that for the last seven or eight days. It's a work in progress.''

  Simms said it felt good to get some reps against the Bucs' No. 1 defense but he's only cautiously optimistic.

   ""I can't say I can (throw) like I did before, but it's coming along,'' Simms said. ""I'm not like Chris Simms before the injury. Definitely not. Like I said, it's just a matter of time.

   ""I'm just going to continue to work at it and keep plugging away. It's not a matter of if, it's just when. It'll come. It might not look great to you guys out there, but I can notice a difference between this week and last week. So as long as I feel improvement, I'm happy.''

   That said, don't look for Simms to play Saturday at Jacksonville. He knows he isn't ready to face live bullets and that means the Bucs face a tough decision in about two weeks.

(Pictured: Chris Simms, left. Times photo - Brian Cassella. Click to enlarge.)

    

   

Comments

[shane]

he got picked off 3 times against a practice squad isn't that saying he's not fit to even be playing against our 3rd string D sorry but simms is gone when its time for roster cuts

[aaron]

he is working off the rust shane. be a little more patient. if garcia is our starter and mccown is our #2 then relax. simms has time. he lost his SPLEEN! he will work it out. you need to read Gary Shelton's article about simms. he brings out some very good points as to why we need to keep him. surely garcia is not our long term answer, nor grad. we must keep simms

[DR]

Cut Simms now! They're wasting their time with him. He wasn't good before the spleen injury so why would we expect him to be better?

[Keith]

Cut DR and shane from making comments here!

[aaron]

i agree with keith. shane and dr you have now offically been cut. now go root for the dolphins or jags. off with you!

[DR]

Aaron and Keith, I read your comments about Kenyatta Walker and I agree with them but why do you support Simms? What has Simms done to deserve support? Walker actually accomplished more as a Buc than him. He's better at his position than Simms is in his own position. You won't be arguing much longer anyways, my inside source says it won't be too long before Simms is actually cut. Good riddance. Maybe you guys should cut yourselves...literally, that will be more exciting than watching the Bucs this year!

[shane]

people need to stop making excuses for the sorry pretty boy who cant even get the ball past the practice squad without getting it picked off or batted down sooner or later he will be flippin burgers at burger king or mcdonalds for a living but wait we paid him 5 mil in guarantees, pretty boy got more than hes worth in my eyes.

[aaron]

DR, i support simms for a # of reasons. he laid it all on the line in the panthers game. he almost brought us bac to win. the d let us down. when he came in for greise the year before he performed well: 10td-7int 81.4 passer rating &2035 yards. led us to the playoffs and in the game against the skins threw a beauty to sheppard that should have been caught to tie the game. he has the most potential of any qb on our roster to be an good nfl qb. garcia-old, grad-stinks, mccown-average(but a good backup) simms has the best upside of them all. he has a monster of a work ethic, determination and great character. he has the respect of the team, especially after playing through his injury. he is not at the point of starting right now. but WHEN not IF garcia gets hurt simms should be the one to step in and take over.

[DR]

Aaron, Simms put up decent #'s agains a very easy schedule. When the playoffs came, he was terrible. Yeah, that pass should have been caught, but the rest of the game he was horrible. Just because he played a game while injured doesn't make you a great player or even a good one. His stats were a joke before that game. It wasn't a loss when he was out for the season. He has been in the league long enough and hasn't showed true progress.