Simms feeling like himself again

There was a rare Chris Simms sighting at One Buc Place this morning, and he brought with him some encouraging news.

Simms said that after extensive efforts to address his recurring physical problems related to his splenectomy in September 2006, he finally feels like he is back to normal. It was most apparent when Simms recently did a throwing session and felt better than at any point since his surgery.

"Everything felt normal," he said. "I almost cried. It was just a month ago, it was the first time I'd gone out there and not just lobbed it, but dropped back and threw with some authority. I can't lie to you. When I first went out there, I was like, 'Man, how is this going to go?' I was scared."

Simms was placed on injured reserve in October when the Bucs needed a roster spot to replace injured tailbacks Cadillac Williams and Michael Pittman. Since then, he has visited a Toronto-based exercise physiologist, Dr. Tony Galea, who has helped him recover from the complicated aftereffects that we've reported on over the past several months.

"It's not the kind of injury a normal surgeon or that kind of doctor would know anything about," Simms said. "You need a guy who knows how the (muscles) work. That's who I ended up seeing. This guy is a specialist as far as knowing how each muscle affects the one next to it.

". . . I had a lot of muscles that were shut off around the scar. It's pretty common when you have a bad scar like that. The body knows the shut off the muscles to protect the scar. So, that's why I lost power and didn't feel like myself throwing the ball."

Comments

[JJ]

I really hope this kid is not on our roster next year!!

[AL]

He also said he would be ready to go 6 months ago. I hope its not just a lot of smoke and he can at least compete for a job next yr. I do belive he is under contract until the end of next season. Either way we should draft a couple recievers and a qb.

[DR]

He expects to be released so he is going to say he is good to go. Why did it take until now, at the end of the season, to say he feels good?
He's terrible anyways and won't be in the NFL much longer.

[Kyle]

Of course he feels like himself, we lost!

[Jay]

I hope Simms is on the roster next year, and he's allowed to flourish under the actual usage of the shotgun (something Gruden absolutely refused to do when Chris was playing). Garcia is good so long as his decision making is solid, and he showed some bad tendencies yesterday. He went from holding the #1 job next season to having to earn it again. Chris has the accuracy and strength to stretch the field but with Galloway sliding off, and Gruden's obsession with dinks and dunks, there's not much with him to work with this year. Bruce Allen and company have done a great job of bringing in new talent so if the Bucs decide to keep Simms and start building around him and his strengths, I think they will be successful. Otherwise, it'll be another patchwork team and another 4-12 season.

[Stephen_Holder]

DR, I don't know about that. I'm not saying Chris is a Pro Bowler, but did you watch some of these clowns playing quarterback this season? It was dreadful and hard to watch some of these no-names around the league. Why is Chris Simms (at full strength) and worse than, say, Cleo Lemon?

[Kyle T]

Anyone who has ever had a splenectomy or knew someone well who went through the procedure knew that Simms wouldn't be available until the END of this year at the earliest. A healthy Simms should ABSOLUTELY be on next year's roster with an opportunity to win the starting job. He's better than every QB the Bucs have, except maybe Garcia, who is WAY up there in years. Look at all of the OL-men the Bucs have acquired the past couple of years. They did that because the O-Line Simms had was absolutely terrible! The Buc's new OL, with another year to mature, will provide some nice protection for the QB to throw the ball down the field. Simms throws the deep ball better than any QB on the Buc's roster. The Bucs really do need to find a speedy, young WR though.

[DR]

Stephen, I agree. Simms will stay in the league and mainly because the talent level at QB is at an all time low in the NFL. Go back 12 years and only a handful of these starting QB's today would be starting then. It's sad to watch these guys embarrass themselves on the field.

[Jay]

Good news. Javon Walker wants out of Denver, and Chad Johnson wants out of Cincy. I will sacrifice a live chicken on the altar of Bruce Allen if he is able to orchestrate a reasonable trade for both of those wide receivers. I might go for the family meal and three side dishes if they cut Sammy Davis in the next 48 hours.

[Matt]

Jay,

What would you do for Bruce if he could organize a straight trade Chad Johnson for Sammy Davis?

[John P]

Matt and Jay...funny stuff. :)

Johnson wouldn't want to go to a team without a pro bowl QB - he's not ego driven enough to not respect what Palmer, or someone like him, can do for his stats.

What kind of payoff would it take for Moss to sign? $10 million a year? I'd pay it.

Seriously though, a center, a DT, another linebacker - and some WR's who can make a yard or two of separation on a crossing route - and catch the ball - might make the difference next year.

[Jay]

Matt,

I won't go into details, but lets just say I would start brushing up on my show tunes and pay closer attention to my personal grooming habits.

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Stephen,

do a little research before commenting on simms. He's gruden's one and only mistake his whole career. Cleo Lemon had only 6 interceptions all season and took only 6 sacks. Chris Simms in his last year playing had 7 interceptions in 3 games.

His quarterback rating is awful. 45 percent in his last season. In his "good year" when we started 5-1 under griese, simms went 6-5. Cadillac had at or way over 100 yards in 5 of the six wins, and our defense had a defensive score in almost every game. When he didn't rush well, Chris was absolutely awful. He took 29 sacks! And, no those were not all the offensive line's fault. Does anyone remember the last time a ball wsa batted down at the line? It happened three and four times a game with simms. Garcia is only 6 foot and it rarely happens.

Never ever have I seen the qb position played so ridiculously - except for the years I watched him at texas. Had Mack Brown had a brain and kept Major Applewhite his qb he could have had a least one more championship.

Gruden has made only one fatal error his whole career - believing for one second chris simms could play in the nfl.

I still remember watching the draft on the internet that fateful night and when I saw chris simms pop up as our last selection of the third round - I cried.

Why? Because he was going to ruin our next few years and he did.

What's the difference between the steelers championship and the bucs losing first round? Simple. One team had a qb with the guts to make a tough tackle after a turnover, the other ran away.

I could go on and on, suffice it to say: heck yeah give me cleo lemon anytime!

DR stick to your guns - don't let stephen talk you out of a great point. simms will never play another regular season down in the nfl. if he does, God help us it's for a nfc south team!

[aaron]

in response to the person who didnt post their name at 12:39:
chris simms will be a good qb in the nfl whether it is with the bucs or not. the situation that simms was put in was absolutly awful. his starting o-line during his last season playing was anthony davis at LT, john wade at C, sean mahan at RG and the great kenyatta walker blocking his blind side. anthony davis as we all know cannot pass block to save his life. john wade makes great call for his men at the line but he is often overpowered and is not much of a pass protecter. sean mahan stunk and still does. did anybody see him in his playoof game against the jags last week? it was usually his man in the backfield. and now we come to Yatta. i do not need to say more, do i?
the batted balls are not entirely his fault. Bill Muirs job as an o-line coach is to teach his guys how to pass block. part of pass blocking is keeping you mans hands down and out of the passing lanes. this is something the line failed to do on a regular basis. but simms does take some of that responsibility, not all. our line has improved quite a bit since then, and should be better next year. simms asked for the shot gun a couple years ago and gruden said no. now that it is in it also should help buy more time. the knock on garcia is that he cannot throw the long ball very accuratly. that is a shame considering that we have one of the best deep threats in the league in galloway. the long ball is chris's bread and butter. his has a cannon of an arm and is extremely accurate on the deep routes. this should be taken advantage of. and in repsonse to "no name" again, garcia didnt have batted balls because he was in shotgun or then rolled out.
simms will be a better qb when better people are around him. the TE crew is solid, the o-line is looking better, the RB's are solid and the Wr's are decent. (we need a speedy wr in the draft) given the improvment of our offense as a whole i think next year simms competing for the starting job would be a great thing. he would really push garcia.

after reading the hilariously pathetic response, one can deduce that aaron must be one of the following:

1. aaron simms, chris' little brother

2. aaron the crackhead, in the midst of his worst high ever.

3. aaron, a girl, who never has watched or played a football game in her life.

take your pick.

[Cleo Lemon]

I agree with the dude who posted three back.

[Stephen_Holder]

To whomever responded to my Cleo Lemon quip, maybe you think Cleo was a bad example. Fine. But I still feel like Chris, in the right system and at full strength, could be a serviceable player. Not great, not Hall of Fame, maybe not even all that good, just serviceable. Given the horrible line he played behind and Gruden's insistence on making him fit into a scheme that doesn't suit him, you sort of have to grade on a curve until all things are equal. That's not exactly a ridiculous claim to make, right?

[aaron]

anyone with any sense would agree with you, stephen. i cant believe some of these "fans" who have turned on chris. man when during that 11-5 year a couple of years ago everybody was excited about the future with simms. now he loses a spleen while toughing it out for the team and he is loser. strange...

[Tom]

Aaron and Stephen, there are some that don't really have an objective opinion regarding Chris Simms (and Jon Gruden). However, I completely agree with you both. Simms has perhaps one of the most beautiful and accurate long balls I've seen. He would be suited in a vertical offense, like Norv Turner's. Like you said, he may not be great, but at least serviceable.

[Edward]

I hope Chris is still with the bucs next year he knows the systems and has had time to learn to read defense's and would be a great back up but I hope Jon lets all QB's compete for the starting job and let them fall in the order that they compete
Ed

[Rich]

Stephen, et al.

Fully agree with "serviceable". Sorry left my name off previous posts due to my exasperation to fire off my thoughts.

Again, I hope, pray, beg, delight, etc etc, that simms "serviceability" finds itself in the nfc south. That's two guranteed wins a year for us.

As to the 11-5 season. See previous post for a true assessment of simms roll in that season.

As to seeing him as the future. Again, I've cried two times in my life. When Mack Brown named him the starter over Major Applewhite, and when Gruden,Allen drafted him to my beloved Bucs.

I'm also very objective about Gruden. On any measureable scale he's a great coach except for one fatal mistake.

do you know what is was yet?

[Rich]

By the way, I always thought Mike Rae, Parnell Dickinson, and Gary Huff were "serviceable" too.

Got a real kick out of seeing someone wearing a orange "dickinson" jersey at game on Sunday too. There's a real fan.

[John P]

Barring some setback, Simms is likely to be around next year, in the #2 role behind Garcia. No way will they toss him on the street - and who would give anything for him in a trade? McCown did nothing to separate himself from a permanant backup QB job, so that leaves Simms (in Gruden's mind) as the guy to replace Garcia in the event of a disaster.

I don't see them drafting another QB in April, either.

[aaron]

in response to rich:

you need to get you facts straight, chris simms wasnt drafted by gruden/allen it was gruden/Mckay. Bruce was still in oakland at that point.

[rich]

i meant mckay aaron. don't get your panties in a wad.

[aaron]

did you, rich? or are you just a johnny-come-lately? you should know that.