Simms Facing Cloudy Future

Phil Simms walked briskly through the players parking lot at Giants Stadium Monday, wearing sunglasses and a grim look.

Simms, whose answers were laced with expletives when he was cornered by the media after the New York Giants’ 19-13 overtime playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams Sunday, did not acknowledge reporters or the cameras pointed at him. His gaze remained fixed on what was in front of him until he turned the corner leading to the sanctuary of the Giants locker room.

It had been a rough 24 hours for Simms. His sub-par, 14-for-29 performance, especially the momentum-turning interception at the end of the first half, had been universally criticized.

Simms’ play could come under even closer scrutiny when the Giants open training camp this summer. For the first time since 1983, there may be an open competition for quarterback.

Coach Bill Parcells wouldn’t divulge his quarterback plans for next season nor did he deny Simms may be forced to beat out Jeff Hostetler to retain his job.

“It’s something (competition at quarterback) that I have to think about pretty strongly,” Parcells said. “But I’m not saying what I’m going to do at this point because I don’t think I should. It’s something I’m going to have to consider.

“Hey, anytime you have a player who is 34 years old you have to think (about it).”

Parcells went out of his way to praise Simms, saying he was happy with Simms and thought he did “an excellent job” this season. But Parcells has never been this ambiguous about Simms’ status.

Since Simms and Scott Brunner competed for the job in 1983, the assumption has been that Simms was the quarterback unless injuries prevented him from playing.

“I don’t think he would care (if the position was thrown open),” Parcells said. “I could trade for Dan Marino and he’d say, ‘Bring him in here and let’s see who’s the best.’ That’s the type of competitor he is.”

After he attended a team meeting and cleaned out his locker, Simms made only one comment before he drove away in his white Jaguar XJS.

“It was a tough year. It was a bad way to end it,” he said. “I’m sorry about it. I mean I’m unhappy about it. I wish it could be different, but it wasn’t.”

Simms skipped the first three weeks of training camp before signing a three-year contract worth approximately $4.2 million, a deal that takes him through the 1991 season. Before his holdout, Simms had been one of the lowest-paid starting quarterbacks in the league, but the new contract pushed him into the Top 10 in quarterback salaries.

But, in many regards, this was Simms’ toughest year since knee and thumb injuries knocked him out of all but two games in the 1982-83 seasons.

He suffered chest, thumb and ankle injuries, missing most of the Minnesota game and a start against the Cardinals with a severely sprained right ankle. The ankle limited his mobility the rest of the regular season.

Simms also struggled under the constraints of the Giants’ conservative offense. When the running game struggled, Simms often was forced to throw in third-and-long situations.

When the Giants did throw, the pass blocking of the young offensive line was inconsistent. In the losses to the 49ers and Eagles -- games in which the Giants were forced to pass -- Simms committed seven turnovers that were converted into 38 points.

For the season, he completed 228 of 405 passes for 3,061 yards with 14 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

“Hand the ball off in the non-obvious situations and to convert the third-and-longs. That was Phil’s job,” center Bart Oates said. “I thought there was more pressure on him in that situation. It’s probably a little easier for a quarterback when you have a good running game to throw off play-action.

“But we went away from the play-action, from what we’ve done in the past. His job description changed somewhat this year.”

Hostetler, 28, had thrown only 29 passes in his first five seasons, but played fairly well in leading the Giants to victories over the Vikings and Cardinals. Parcells said after the Phoenix game that he was confident Hostetler could perform in a starting role.

“I don’t know. I think it (a competition at quarterback) is more realistic than it’s ever been,” Hostetler said. “I have another year under my belt. ... I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’ll try to make the best of it.”