Simms Isn’t Styling, Just Smiling : Pro football: Giant quarterback doesn’t have the speed of Cunningham, but his low-key approach has his team on the move.

As running styles go, quarterbacks Randall Cunningham and Phil Simms have nothing in common except feet. Each has two.

Last week, the Rams invented a new defense--no down linemen--to curtail Philadelphia’s Cunningham, an elusive enough bird to require all-night brainstorming and a one-use-only, disposable game plan.

This week, it’s back to basics in preparation for Simms of the New York Giants, a slow-footed, ankle-braced quarterback who limps and creaks when he breaks the huddle.

Unless, of course, you want to mention Simms’ dashing, three-yard touchdown run against the Raiders a week ago Sunday, his first touchdown rushing since 1986 and only the fourth in an 11-year career.

Pretty as a Cunningham ad-lib?

“Yeah, I think so,” Simms said of his run. “I finally unleashed it. The Rams dropped eight (defenders) against Randall to keep him from running. I just wonder if they’re going to drop nine on me.”

Simms, truth be known, is fire-hydrant slow, yet his style has meshed well with the decor of this season’s Giants, a team that has earned more victories than juicy headlines.

For flash and controversy, it’s tough to compete with New York’s divisional rivals, the Eagles. Then again, the Eagles aren’t competing anymore, having been eliminated in last week’s wild-card game by the Rams. Keep those yawns coming.

“We’ve won,” Simms said. “Sometimes I wonder how. We may be more conservative this year than in the past. It’s been backed up by the stats, but it’s winning for us, and it’s been successful.”

Simms has been through several stages in a Giant career that began in 1979. He has been cheered, booed, victimized and canonized. He had a 4,000-yard passing season in 1984 and a Super Bowl game for the ages in 1987, completing 22 of 25 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns in New York’s 39-20 win over Denver in Super Bowl XXI.

“No quarterback ever performed in a big game like he did,” Ram Coach John Robinson said. “It was so methodical that it kind of gets lost in other performances.”

This season, though, Simms was asked to take a less-flashy role. These were new Giants, with lower expectations. Gone were yesterday’s stars--Joe Morris, Jim Burt, Harry Carson, Phil McConkey, Bill Ard.

Coach Bill Parcells decided to play the season close to the vest, hoping that solid defense and a conservative offense would keep the Giants in the race. He was right. New York won the NFC East title with a 12-4 record.

Seven of the Giants’ victories were by 10 points or fewer. They have scored 30 points or more only three times.

Simms’ 405 passes were his fewest since 1981, not counting 1987, the strike year. He threw as many interceptions, 14, as touchdown passes, but remained the rudder on a ship that vowed never to self-destruct.

“I think it takes patience,” he said of his style. “I think it’s harder to play this way than it is the way Jim (Everett) plays, because Jim knows going in every week that he’s going to throw the ball, regardless of the situation. It’s easy for him to get into rhythm. I had many years here where we just relied on throwing the ball, and I always found that to be true.

“Now, sometimes we can go three or four series without throwing the ball except maybe on third down. It gets a little tough, but I’ve never complained. I don’t complain, because we’re winning with it. Whatever it takes. It seems to make me happy.”

A younger Simms might not have handled the assignment as well, he said, preferring the wide-open attack the Rams employ.

“I don’t get envious,” he said. “Years ago I would have. I played like that for a couple of years. It was fun. But it wasn’t always fun up here, because the weather can be so treacherous. I don’t think Jim would have liked dropping back and throwing the ball every down in some of the games we’ve played up here this year.

“It’s my 11th year, so I’m just happy to go and make a couple of plays that help us win. I mean that. I feel very happy just being part of it. It used to bother me years ago. But now, not at all.”

Parcells says Simms is the same quarterback he was in his prime. It’s the team that has changed.

“We’ve asked him to do some different things,” he said. “This team and this cast around him are different than it was three, four years ago. As a result, we’re playing a different way. I try to take the personnel we have available and do the things that give our team the best chance to win. We haven’t thrown the ball a lot this year. But if I want to throw it, Phil can throw it.”

Simms had figured he would be throwing a lot this season, with the Giants’ future so much in doubt. Most saw this as a rebuilding year for Parcells, with Simms, one of the few links from the past, having to take on more responsibility.

Simms said he guessed the Giants would be good enough for 8-8 this year, 10-6 at best.

“And I said, ‘Yeah, the way I look at it, we’ll probably have to throw it every down this year to be successful,’ ” Simms remembers saying. “I remember making all these comments to these guys, and the season has been just the opposite. We’ve won a lot more games than I ever thought we could.”

So Simms isn’t much for style points anymore.

“It’s probably painful for a lot of people to watch,” he said. “We’ve won a lot of games where you pick up the paper and it’s, ‘Well, they won, but they didn’t do it convincingly, and it wasn’t pretty.’ ”

At this point in his career, Simms doesn’t care.

“I’m just doing what I can do to survive here, that’s all,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve adapted or anything, it’s the way Coach Bill Parcells has decided to design his team. If I want to be a part of it, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m glad I’m a part of it. A lot of people seem bothered by it, but when it’s all said and done, our victories, of course, match up against anybody’s.”

Ram Notes

The Rams signed receiver Thomas Henley to a developmental contract Wednesday to provide another set of fresh legs for this week’s practice. . . . Only two injuries were reported on Wednesday’s listings. Ram linebacker Brett Faryniarz, who has a hamstring problem, and Giant guard Brian Williams, who has a knee injury, are both questionable.