It all makes sense now for Zibanejad
What’s next for Phil Simms? “I am not done,” he said to me in a text message. Simms surely will have more to say in the near future about losing his job to Tony Romo as CBS’ No. 1 NFL analyst. He’s under contract for at least two more years and there are many ways this could go.
Simms is 61 years old and has not lost his fastball. So, there should be opportunities for him. He can always do a podcast with his son Chris, who works for several media outlets.
Where will Phil pop up? Here are our top five possibilities.
If he works out an agreement to remain at CBS, he surely will continue on “Inside The NFL,” on CBS-owned Showtime. Although it doesn’t have the following it had on HBO when it was a must-watch, INFL still would provide Simms a forum to express his NFL opinions. It’s also geographically desirable. The show is taped at the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street. Simms lives in New Jersey.
Sean McManus, the president of CBS Sports, said this week that he hopes Simms can stay with CBS. “We are talking about a number of different roles in the booth,” he said.
There’s been speculation CBS might offer him a position on its No. 2 team, which is currently Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts. Whether he would knock Fouts down to No. 3 or it would become a threeman booth — Simms started in a crowded booth at NBC with Dick Enberg and Paul Maguire – remains to be seen.
I think he has too much pride to slip into a backup role on CBS’ No. 2 team that is shown to only a fraction of the country compared to the audience he’s been reaching the last 20 years.
There’s an opening on “The NFL Today” desk with Tony Gonzalez quitting because he no longer wanted to do the weekly travel from his home in California. There is sentiment at CBS to not replace Gonzalez and keep the desk as Bill Cowher, Boomer Esiason and Bart Scott along with host James Brown.
Simms would be excellent on the show and it’s a lot less work than preparing for a Sunday game each week and a Thursday game once a week for half the season. These studio guys talk in sound bites. It’s not a hard job at all if they do just a little homework and we know Simms does a lot of homework.
When I worked on “Inside The NFL” on HBO as the inside information reporter, I would occasionally sit in on the script session meetings. There was a Hall of Fame quarterback on the panel — I’m not referring to the great Len Dawson — and when it came time to discuss upcoming games, he often had no clue and was totally unprepared. I remember we were prepping to talk about a Saints-Falcons game and he reacted as if he was being asked to break down Liverpool vs. Manchester City. “What should I say?” he asked. “What do you want me to say?”
He is no longer on television.
Mike Francesa is hanging up his headset in December, so The FAN needs an afternoon drive time host. How about moving Esiason to the afternoons and teaming him with Simms? They have great chemistry. The show would be over before Esiason heads over to MSG for the Rangers games. One problem: “Inside The NFL” tapes on Tuesday afternoons, so there would be a conflict. Maybe the Francesa show is downsized from 1 p.m. − 6:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. − 6:30 p.m., which would solve the problem. Or perhaps Showtime can tape on Tuesday mornings. Simms could potentially team with Esiason on “The NFL Today,” “Inside The NFL” and WFAN. How long before they would get sick of each other?
What would happen to the Carton half of Boomer and Carton if Esiason moves to the afternoon? Chris Christie was snubbed by his buddy Donald Trump for a key White House appointment, but would love to work with his buddy Carton. Christie had been lobbying to replace Francesa. Good thing he wouldn’t have to take the George Washington Bridge to get to the radio station from New Jersey. Carton and Christie as a tandem would be…well…interesting.
They have an opening on their No. 2 team behind Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. John Lynch left his spot with Kevin Burkhardt to become the 49ers general manager. It would be much easier for Simms to be No. 2 behind Aikman than remain at CBS and be No. 2 behind the rookie Romo.
OTTAWA − Mika Zibanejad’s first playoff game as a Ranger will be against the Canadiens, the same team he faced in his first-ever playoff game with the Senators, whom he’ll play against for the first time Saturday afternoon in the Rangers’ penultimate regularseason game.
Zibanejad, whom the Rangers acquired from Ottawa over the summer for Derick Brassard, was 20 years old when he made his NHL postseason debut in Montreal on May 2, 2013, earning two assists in Ottawa’s 4-2 Game 1 victory before the Senators took the series in five. In recalling his first postseason experience, he remembers the immense media horde the day before the series began in Bell Centre.
“A lot of media,” Zibanejad recently told the Daily News. “We came there and we usually have the locker room access, but at that point we had to go outside the locker room into the hallway and they had stations for players. For me that was overwhelming, but it was fun.”
Before that first playoff game, Zibanejad said veteran players were talking with the youngsters about staying relaxed amid the intensity of playoff hockey. It helped, he said, that Ottawa won the game. After splitting the first two games, the series went to Ottawa for Game 3, where there was a line brawl in the third period while No. 7 seed Ottawa was up by three goals. “I think there were seven guys on the bench the last seven minutes,” he said.
The Sens lost to top-seeded Pittsburgh in five games in the second round. “Being 20 and playing your first playoffs, getting to do that in two crazy hockey cities, it was really cool and an experience,” Zibanejad said. “It’s something I always dreamt of as a kid.”
Interestingly, Zibanejad potentially could’ve made his playoff debut in 2012 against the Rangers in the first round. He came back to North America from his Swedish club Djurgårdens IF and was told he had a chance to dress during the series, but he got hurt while with AHL Binghamton.
Zibanejad didn’t play against his former club in the two meetings between the Rangers and Senators at the Garden earlier this year after he suffered a broken fibula on Nov. 20, which kept him out nearly two months. So Saturday will represent his first NHL game as a visitor in Ottawa and his first matchup against the Senators.
HANK START: Henrik Lundqvist will make his final regular-season start Saturday and Antti Raanta will play Sunday. All the Rangers who missed Wednesday’s game practiced Friday, though Ryan McDonagh will miss his fourth straight game Saturday.
RANGERS at SENATORS 12:30 on MSG
Simms already conducts private lessons for high school and college quarterbacks. Joe Montana even sent his son Nick to work with him. If Simms devoted his full-time energy to mentoring, he would become the most accomplished quarterback guru in the country — the new Bill Walsh. His knowledge of QB mechanics is off the charts. Simms would have been a terrific head coach or offensive coordinator. But that’s not happening now. The hours are ridiculous. He doesn’t want to stop working even with CBS not treating him right.
Simms won a Super Bowl with the Giants and broadcast a total eight Super Bowls with NBC and then CBS. He’s had two great careers and says he’s not done yet.