Chris Simms speaks out on Gruden..."Irreparably Broken" (1 Viewer)

[QUEZILLA]

In Chris Simms defense, our line was horrible before he got hurt. He did have a great arm, and a nice deep ball.

From what I understand about his injury his stomach muscles took a long time to get back to where they needed to be.

 

[Itchy Amos]

When I first read this, I felt like Simms was being a wuss....overly sensitive and all that, and was all but ready to pile on.And then, a couple hours later, I thought about it a little.Dude gets hurt at work. Guts it out in heroic fashion.ALMOST DIES FROM HIS EFFORTS.Months pass.Boss never once asks him how he's doing after his near death experiance on the job?Boss assumes he's dogging it, instead of having trouble recovering (REGARDLESS of the why in the recovery (IE: Physical or mental)).Boss benches player.Boss still never talks about the problems with the employee.If the story is accurate, and Gruden never checked up on him, then I can't fault Simms for feeling this way. I would be furious in his spot. Obviously, Gruden is a horrible boss, no matter how good a coach he might be.I've always been a Gruden fan, and never been a Simms fan, but he deserves better then this.

This is my line of thinking as well, and I don't really understand the mentality of those saying he should just tough it out. If I nearly died on the job and my boss not only didn't check up on me, but acted indifferent to my injury then I would put in my 2 weeks notice without a second thought.

I can only speak for myself, but I think that most people in this thread that questioned Simm's mental toughness did so based upon his comment about Gruden not taking the time to have a heart to heart conversation with his quarterback. There have been many successful head coaches that were not warm and fuzzy with their players, particularly with their quarterbacks. Bill Parcels comes to mind.This is the NFL. Players get seriously injured on a fairly regular basis. Simms showed incredible toughness playing the second half of the Carolina game, but that was the previous season. Team doctors cleared him for full contact practice. Gruden apparently knew enough about his situation to ask Simms if it was all in his head. I take that to mean that at some point Gruden must have had some sort of discussion with Simms about his injury. Maybe that was Gruden's way of trying to talk to Simms, maybe it wasnt. Gruden is legendary for spending every waking hour preparing to win his next game. He probably doesnt allocate too much time to worry about his players feelings.Does it stink for Simms? Certainly. He almost gave up his life for his team, but the NFL can be a cold-hearted business, especially for the average, to below average player. If Simms thinks that he needed more re-hab before getting into a game or practice, than his issue should be with the team doctor that cleared him to fully practice. I think Simms just expected too much from Gruden.

 

[gump]

Forgot one small detail:

Dude gets hurt at work.

Guts it out in heroic fashion.

ALMOST DIES FROM HIS EFFORTS.

Months pass.

Team gives still-injured Simms to $7M extension.

Boss never once asks him how he's doing after his near death experiance on the job?

Boss assumes he's dogging it, instead of having trouble recovering (REGARDLESS of the why in the recovery (IE: Physical or mental)).

Boss benches player.

Boss still never talks about the problems with the employee.

 

[Knight who says Ni]

I can only speak for myself, but I think that most people in this thread that questioned Simm's mental toughness did so based upon his comment about Gruden not taking the time to have a heart to heart conversation with his quarterback.

There have been many successful head coaches that were not warm and fuzzy with their players, particularly with their quarterbacks. Bill Parcels comes to mind.

This is the NFL. Players get seriously injured on a fairly regular basis. Simms showed incredible toughness playing the second half of the Carolina game, but that was the previous season. Team doctors cleared him for full contact practice. Gruden apparently knew enough about his situation to ask Simms if it was all in his head. I take that to mean that at some point Gruden must have had some sort of discussion with Simms about his injury. Maybe that was Gruden's way of trying to talk to Simms, maybe it wasnt. Gruden is legendary for spending every waking hour preparing to win his next game. He probably doesnt allocate too much time to worry about his players feelings.

Does it stink for Simms? Certainly. He almost gave up his life for his team, but the NFL can be a cold-hearted business, especially for the average, to below average player. If Simms thinks that he needed more re-hab before getting into a game or practice, than his issue should be with the team doctor that cleared him to fully practice. I think Simms just expected too much from Gruden.

I see what you're saying, and what has me a little confused is the last bit that I bolded - how was he cleared to play if he was still in pain, and did he get reevaluated after he was cleared? That's why I said earlier that any comments from the team physician on this topic would be nice if they're available. It is understandable that almost a year after the injury and getting cleared form the physician that the coach would wonder what the deal was, and apparently Simms was torqued that Gruden didn't check up on him after his near-death experience ... so maybe it really was mental, and Simms no longer wanted to play for him at that point.

 

[Christo]

Forgot one small detail:

Dude gets hurt at work.

Guts it out in heroic fashion.

ALMOST DIES FROM HIS EFFORTS.

Months pass.

Team gives still-injured Simms to $7M extension.

Boss never once asks him how he's doing after his near death experiance on the job?

Boss assumes he's dogging it, instead of having trouble recovering (REGARDLESS of the why in the recovery (IE: Physical or mental)).

Boss benches player.

Boss still never talks about the problems with the employee.

Correct. The team gave him an extension. And as Simms has made clear, his problem is not with the team. It is with Gruden. I'm sure that if the team fired Gruden and the new HC gave Simms a fair shot in training camp this year there would be no problem. But that's not going to happen. So he's asked for a trade or to be waived and he's given his reason, it's Gruden, not the team.

 

[Enforcer]

When I first read this, I felt like Simms was being a wuss....overly sensitive and all that, and was all but ready to pile on.And then, a couple hours later, I thought about it a little.Dude gets hurt at work. Guts it out in heroic fashion.ALMOST DIES FROM HIS EFFORTS.Months pass.Boss never once asks him how he's doing after his near death experiance on the job?Boss assumes he's dogging it, instead of having trouble recovering (REGARDLESS of the why in the recovery (IE: Physical or mental)).Boss benches player.Boss still never talks about the problems with the employee.If the story is accurate, and Gruden never checked up on him, then I can't fault Simms for feeling this way. I would be furious in his spot. Obviously, Gruden is a horrible boss, no matter how good a coach he might be.I've always been a Gruden fan, and never been a Simms fan, but he deserves better then this.

Congratulations to everyone posting in this thread with the ability to see across the country and into the heart of Simms. Big to you. Even bigger for knowing and understanding his health status. Wish I had that ability.

 

[cstu]

When I first read this, I felt like Simms was being a wuss....overly sensitive and all that, and was all but ready to pile on.And then, a couple hours later, I thought about it a little.Dude gets hurt at work. Guts it out in heroic fashion.ALMOST DIES FROM HIS EFFORTS.Months pass.Boss never once asks him how he's doing after his near death experiance on the job?Boss assumes he's dogging it, instead of having trouble recovering (REGARDLESS of the why in the recovery (IE: Physical or mental)).Boss benches player.Boss still never talks about the problems with the employee.If the story is accurate, and Gruden never checked up on him, then I can't fault Simms for feeling this way. I would be furious in his spot. Obviously, Gruden is a horrible boss, no matter how good a coach he might be.I've always been a Gruden fan, and never been a Simms fan, but he deserves better then this.

This is my line of thinking as well, and I don't really understand the mentality of those saying he should just tough it out. If I nearly died on the job and my boss not only didn't check up on me, but acted indifferent to my injury then I would put in my 2 weeks notice without a second thought.

A real man handles his business in a professional way like Bledsoe did, not like whiny spoiled brat.

 

[gump]

Forgot one small detail:

Dude gets hurt at work.

Guts it out in heroic fashion.

ALMOST DIES FROM HIS EFFORTS.

Months pass.

Team gives still-injured Simms to $7M extension.

Boss never once asks him how he's doing after his near death experiance on the job?

Boss assumes he's dogging it, instead of having trouble recovering (REGARDLESS of the why in the recovery (IE: Physical or mental)).

Boss benches player.

Boss still never talks about the problems with the employee.

Correct. The team gave him an extension. And as Simms has made clear, his problem is not with the team. It is with Gruden. I'm sure that if the team fired Gruden and the new HC gave Simms a fair shot in training camp this year there would be no problem. But that's not going to happen. So he's asked for a trade or to be waived and he's given his reason, it's Gruden, not the team.

Simms blames "them" for not having a specialist to look at him, then says he wasn't in "their" plans.

 

[Christo]

Forgot one small detail:

Dude gets hurt at work.

Guts it out in heroic fashion.

ALMOST DIES FROM HIS EFFORTS.

Months pass.

Team gives still-injured Simms to $7M extension.

Boss never once asks him how he's doing after his near death experiance on the job?

Boss assumes he's dogging it, instead of having trouble recovering (REGARDLESS of the why in the recovery (IE: Physical or mental)).

Boss benches player.

Boss still never talks about the problems with the employee.

Correct. The team gave him an extension. And as Simms has made clear, his problem is not with the team. It is with Gruden. I'm sure that if the team fired Gruden and the new HC gave Simms a fair shot in training camp this year there would be no problem. But that's not going to happen. So he's asked for a trade or to be waived and he's given his reason, it's Gruden, not the team.

Simms blames "them" for not having a specialist to look at him, then says he wasn't in "their" plans.

What part of:

Chris Simms wants you to know that it's not about the city or the fans or the team's owners. His ongoing absence from "voluntary" offseason workouts, it's about just one thing - the head coach.

Though he respects his knowledge and deeply appreciates all that he's done for him as a player, the beleaguered Bucs quarterback said Monday that his relationship with Bucs coach Jon Gruden has been deteriorating for months and is now at a point where it is irreparably broken.

"It is totally broken," Simms said by phone from his New Jersey home, where he will be today when another round of workouts begin at One Buc Place. "And it kills me to say that, because the Bucs have been great to me; the fans have been great to me; I love being in Tampa; my family loves being in Tampa.

aren't you understanding?Yes, he said he didn't understand why the team didn't hire a specialist. But that has nothing to do with his reasons for wanting to leave the team.

 

[gump]

aren't you understanding?Yes, he said he didn't understand why the team didn't hire a specialist. But that has nothing to do with his reasons for wanting to leave the team.

A guy who could not get his brain to talk to his arm is complaining about a coach who wondered if it had something to do with his head.Same guy who got $7Million a few months after almost bleeding to death is complaining about the way the team handled his situation.I understand completely.

 

[Christo]

I understand completely.

Obviously not.

 

[bjabrad]

My thoughts exactly.Football is a tough sport. Gruden is only concerned with people that can help him win since that's his job. It could be the first time in Simm's life that somebody told him that he wasn't good enough to play and it's a hard pill to swallow. I'm just shocked that Simms wanted Gruden to be this sweet coach that would hold his hand. Apart from Simms abilities as a football player, do you really want your QB, your team leader to be this emotionally fragile???

 

[brednbuddah]

Maybe he just expects a professional football player to be a little tougher? Recovery time for a spleenectomy is 4-6 weeks. He's saying he wasn't right 9 months later. I would question his mental makeup as well if he's still blaming everything on the injury. The knock on Simms even back at UT was the mental side of the game. Nobody ever questioned his talent or pedigree.

Gruden's not the sweetest guy, but this is professional football. Jimbo the heavy equipment operator isn't getting 9 months to recover, so why should Simms?

so true.ruptured my spleen a few years back (playing football) and I was back at work in after two weeks. needed an extra week now that I look back at it, my boss, at the time, was an ##### too, but my point is I was at 100% after 6 weeks, that includes being active (sports, freeride mountain biking, running around with my children, etc...). I even finished building my deck.

I´m not saying what Simms´ is claiming isn´t true, but no way do you need 9 months to PHYSICALLY recover. no way.

 

[gump]

I´m not saying what Simms´ is claiming isn´t true, but no way do you need 9 months to PHYSICALLY recover. no way.

I think that is what many are missing about this story. Simms had a mystery ailment after he physically recovered from the surgery. He LITERALLY could not tell his arm what to do with his brain. He thought one thing, his arm did another.That's why I think it's a little fishy that he frames it as Gruden questioning his physical recovery by asking him if it was "in his head". Sounds like a legit question considering the mystery ailment?

 

[PhD]

Maybe he just expects a professional football player to be a little tougher? Recovery time for a spleenectomy is 4-6 weeks. He's saying he wasn't right 9 months later. I would question his mental makeup as well if he's still blaming everything on the injury. The knock on Simms even back at UT was the mental side of the game. Nobody ever questioned his talent or pedigree.Gruden's not the sweetest guy, but this is professional football. Jimbo the heavy equipment operator isn't getting 9 months to recover, so why should Simms?

When Jimbo the heavy equipment operator (or you or anyone else for that matter) takes a spleenectomy and lines up with a bullseye on his body nine months later and doesn't flinch ... I'd be pretty impressed. Just because the guy isn't Favre doesn't mean he's a wuss. He might very well be a wuss, but this isn't the evidence you need to prove it to me. And if guy has talent but the knock on him is the mental side of the game, is this the way to coach him?