SUPER BOWL XXI : THE AFTERMATH : Giants, Taking Title in Stride, Take Their Rewards, Go Home

The XXIst party ended and cleanup began. Air traffic controllers began to get a handle on the situation over the Rose Bowl, crowded at kickoff Sunday by eight helicopters, four fixed-wing craft and three blimps. Or as someone said, four if you want to count Bill Parcells, the New York Giants’ coach.

In East Rutherford, N.J., they dug through the snow, looking for Giants Stadium, site of today’s much discussed victory celebration. The Giants flew back to New Jersey Monday evening.

In Anaheim, they gave quarterback Phil Simms his prize as most valuable player of the game, a Japanese car that is a veritable lawn mower compared to Mrs. Simms’ prestigious German touring car and Phil’s American sports car. It’s the thought that counts, right?

“Only one thing better than a car,” said the laconic country boy, grinning. “That’s a free car.

“Last year, when I was the Pro Bowl MVP, I came home and the town of Franklin Lakes (N.J.) got together and had a little lunch for me. The businessmen said, ‘Phil, we’re going to give you a car.’ And they handed me a little model automobile.

“I got excited. I thought they really did buy me a car. All those rich guys, they could afford it.”

This may be hard to believe but the Giants, darlings of the media center of the universe, handled victory as gracefully as you please. They enjoyed themselves. CBS might have missed the occasional instant replay but did it ever take a nicer picture than Jim Burt kissing his young son on the sideline?

Most becoming of all, the Giants paid no attention to suggestions that they now should rank with the greatest teams ever.

“I don’t know,” Parcells said, laughing at the thought of it. “I think we’re one of the great teams in 1986.”

Said Simms: “I’m not thinking about repeating or what the Giants are going to do next year. I don’t even care. I’m just going to relax right now.”

Simms completed 22 of 25 passes in the 39-20 victory over the Denver Broncos. The amazing thing, as Parcells noted Monday, it could have been better. Phil McConkey was ruled to have fallen going for a lob down the middle. Parcells said he would have had it. Mark Bavaro didn’t hold a pass he got his hands on. The only uncatchable pass Simms threw was one under pressure, a sideline pass that was low and away to Stacey Robinson.

“It’s just--Phil gets hot,” Parcells said. “The first time we played, we only had 145 yards passing. And 70 of that was in the last drive.

“For the mentality of the team, for the type of team I try to build, he’s the best quarterback to have.”

What Parcells wanted was a physical running attack with a long-strike passing game, similar to the Raider approach. Such offenses are hard on their quarterbacks, who take extra sacks and throw extra interceptions so Parcells has had to stand by his man.

“I remember three years ago, when he first got here,” Simms said. “He came up to me and said, ‘We’re going to throw a lot of screens and this and that, hit a high percentage of passes.’ That didn’t turn out too well (after missing the ’82 season with a knee injury, Simms broke a thumb and missed 14 games in ‘83).

“The following spring, I was working out at the stadium and he told me, ‘I want you to work on nothing but goes,’ 20-yard in-cuts and 20-yard out-cuts. Ron Erhardt (the new offensive coordinator), that was his philosophy.”

Simms had a 4,000-yard ’84 season, but his ups and downs continued even into this one.

“We got 60-80 yards passing against Dallas, something ridiculous,” he said. “I was a little down and a lot of you guys were ripping (me) in the papers. Bill Parcells took me aside and said, ‘Hey, I think you’re great. . . . ‘ That picked me up. Regardless of who you are, you need support sometimes.”

Those days are over for the moment. Slights, like being passed over for the Pro Bowl?

“No, I don’t think I should have gone,” Simms said. “Tommy Kramer had a great year. So did Jay Schroeder. I thought it was close, but I voted for those two.

“I’m glad I’m not going. I can’t imagine going to another practice.”

So Simms collects his car, his good name and heads for the off-season, a happy man. There are, of course, the inevitable book deals in the works. Do you want to know how refreshing it can get?

“There are going to be so many books out, so much stuff on the Giants, I’m going to hate them in a couple of weeks, myself,” Simms said.