The quarterbacking Simmses – Giant Super Bowl winner Phil, and his son Chris – say they don’t buy Tom Brady’s professed innocence about “DeflateGate,’’ and that the NFL could come down hard on the Patriots if they’re found to have cheated.
The NFL is currently investigating how 11 of the dozen footballs used by New England in Sunday’s 45-7 rout of Indianapolis in the AFC Championship Game were significantly under-inflated, and not up to league specifications. And if the NFL finds New England culpable, the elder Simms said the Patriots will pay.
“I think the penalty is going to be severe,” Simms said Friday on WFAN’s “Boomer and Carton” show.
While the minimum fine for doctoring footballs is $25,000, if the NFL finds the cheating severe enough they can take away draft picks, or worse. The NFL’s statement Friday, though, points to a lengthy investigation that won’t be concluded till long after the Super Bowl.
On Thursday, Brady adamantly insisted that not only didn’t he know how the balls got deflated, but he never even noticed any difference during the first half of the win over the Colts.
Phil wasn’t buying it.
“I’d be shocked if I couldn’t tell,” said Simms, who played in the NFL from 1979-93 and earned two Super Bowl rings with the Giants. He added that he personally could “absolutely” tell if a ball was under-inflated.
Meanwhile, Simms’ older son Chris – who also quarterbacked in the NFL from 2003-10 – said Brady’s denial strained credulity.
“I have a hard time believing the total truth of that interview. I can’t buy it all, I’ve got to say,’’ said Chris, who served as a substitute host Friday for Boomer Esiason, alongside Craig Carton.
“As a quarterback, the football is your life. You grab the football how many times a year between OTAs, training camp, of course every day in practice during the season. You’d certainly know if a football was 12.5 pounds of pressure or 10.5 pounds of pressure.’’
Chris Simms – who is an NFL analyst for CBS, and whose younger brother Matt is a backup quarterback for the Jets – said if he had to use an under-inflated ball that he would realize it “right away.”
He went a step further, saying “I couldn’t come across a quarterback that played a substantial amount of time in the NFL that wouldn’t know.’’