Simms coming to impress UT fans

[JustBonee]

By JOHN MCCLAIN
Sept. 1, 2004
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

TAMPA, FLA. - Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms is not approaching his appearance against the Texans on Thursday night as just another preseason performance.
Simms knows that in the Buccaneers' last exhibition before the regular season begins, a large portion of the crowd at Reliant Stadium, as well as many of those watching on television and listening on radio, will be University of Texas fans.

"This game will be my first time back in the state playing football," Simms said. "I definitely want to have a good showing.

"I still have so many friends in the Austin area, and the game will be broadcast there. If I don't have a good showing, I'm going to hear about it from them, so I better play well."

In his second season with the Buccaneers, Simms has rotated off the bench with veteran Brian Griese behind starter Brad Johnson. After being inactive for every game his rookie season, Simms has taken advantage of his playing time in three preseason games.

Simms has helped the Bucs to a 2-1 record by completing 36 of 51 passes (70.6 percent) for 359 yards. He hasn't thrown a touchdown pass — neither has Johnson or Griese — but he also hasn't thrown an interception.

"He had a very good preseason last year, too," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "I'm really excited about him. He has great ability. He's got a great arm and mobility. He can be quite flashy. And he has a charisma about him that I think everybody loves."

Simms, who might have been the most scrutinized player in Longhorns history, was the last player selected in the third round of the 2003 draft. After Simms reported to the Buccaneers, Gruden fell in love with his work ethic.

"Yeah, I love the guy," Gruden said. "He's a diligent worker who's paid a heavy price by coming in every day and working as hard as he has. He's worked on our offense, understanding the NFL, his presentation as a quarterback and everything that goes with it. He's polished his game, and he's so much farther along than he was a year ago.

"His upside is off the charts, but until you put a guy in and he spends six or seven weeks as your starter, you never know for sure. But the players have a great sense of confidence in him. They like him and respect him."

http://www.chron.com/content/chronic...rts/index.html

[texansfan88]

tough...wanna root for him but he is a buccaneer AND cost UT a shot at the National Championship back in majors senior year

[TheOgre]

Simms also put us in that game against Colorado.

I don't tend to put Applewhite on a pedestal like the majority of fellow UT fans. He wasn't invincible either. I remember K-State putting a couple of a** whoopings on us as well as the Big 12 game against Nebraska (the final score was a lot closer than the actual game). Who knows what would have happened if Applewhite had started every game his senior year? We might have lost to Colorado when we played them earlier that year.

[Nawzer]

Hopefully by the end of the game UT fans will be cursing at him like he was when he was playing for the Longhorns!

[El Tejano]

I hope to see him picking himself up off the ground alot today.

[Tulip]

I can't wait to see him in person, this time for the NFL.

I was pretty resentful of him during the whole Applewhite debacle, but I feel like I have such a greater understanding of the psychology of the current UT regime. They are holding these kids back, and it drives me insane. That's why I'm not a fan of the team anymore - just a fan of many of the players.

By the time the draft came around last year, I realized that Chris Simms was going to be something special with the right coach and that his NFL potential was limitless. Forget college - it was over. I couldn't be happier that he paired up with Gruden.

I'm glad we didn't pick him up in the 3rd round. His talent would have been wasted here.

I don't want Tampa to beat us, but I would like to see Simms show that arm of his. I think it'll be a fun game for the fans.

[WWJD]

I've always been interested to see what kind of pro QB Chris would make.

He may be pretty darn good.

[Htown34s]

It might be a good chance for the defense to pad its sack total; Simms has lead feet.

Our pass rush has been pathetic so far. Of course, we haven't seen the starting 3 DL play together yet. Man, how long has it been since Walker and Payne played in the same game???

[DomDavis]

Originally Posted by texansfan88

tough...wanna root for him but he is a buccaneer AND cost UT a shot at the National Championship back in majors senior year

Who knows what would have happened if Applewhite had started every game his senior year?

I'm glad someone posted that.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I did want to emphasize that point. Major gets overrated by so many within the UT community because of his lack of size and his two wins over Nebraska. In reality, one of those two wins was with Ricky Williams, and the other was in Austin which is one of the toughest places to play in college football. More than anything, what defined the Applewhite era were unnecessary losses to teams like North Carolina State and Stanford and Texas A&M where Applewhite wasn't at the top of his game. The big games don't mean anything if you don't have the consistency to take care of business in all the other weeks, and the Applewhite-led teams didn't do that. I recognize that the coaching staff is and was the real problem, but I don't see how Applewhite starting makes the 2001 team any better.

With that said, some of you are going to be surprised. I've watched a couple of Bucs preseason games this year (I'm a Longhorn fan, so I want to see Chris), and Simms has really surprised me with his mobility. He's not as fast as Carr, but he's surprisingly mobile for his size and for what he showed in college. He's light years than Brad Johnson and Brian Griese. He looks like he's been coached well on how to be comfortable outside of the pocket, which was his primary weakness at Texas.