Parcells' lesson for Simms: It's all about perception
SUPER BOWL XXI: GIANTS 39, BRONCOS 20
Rose Bowl
Pasadena, Calif.
Jan. 25, 1987
MVP: Phil Simms, QB - Giants
The Broncos led 10-9 at halftime, but the Giants' defense clamped down and the offense took control in the third quarter. While the 'D' allowed just two net yards in the quarter, the Giants took the lead for good on Simms' TD strike to Mark Bavaro. They tacked on a Joe Morris run late in the period and when Phil McConkey caught a touchdown pass that deflected off Bavaro, the Giants were firmly in command. Simms was nearly perfect, going 22-for-25 for 268 yards and three touchdowns and setting a record for consecutive completions (11). Credit: AP
If you're like me, you can't get enough of old Giants stories about Bill Parcells. Phil Simms shared one of them today in the context of leading by example.
"He used to say to me things like, ‘You know, Simms, if you want them to listen, you’ve got to show them,’" Simms said of Parcells. "In other words, you’ve got to play well, you’ve got to prepare, you’ve got to be the hardest working guy, everything that you would think.
"I’ll never forget one offseason I was going into the film room ... He came up and told me a story about work. He said, ‘Even if you don’t want to do it during the offseason, come down here anyway.’ He goes, ‘I want you to walk around the locker room and everywhere, let everybody see that you’ve got all the tapes and that pad, and you go in that room and you shut it and you lock it. I don’t care if you watch those films or you lay down and sleep for four hours. I don’t care. But when you come out, I want everybody to see that you’ve been in there for hours so that all of those people will believe that at least you’re doing the work to get ready to play. And if you do that, then they’ll go, Well, hell, if he’s doing it, then I better do it, too.' So, it was about perception. That’s what he was trying to tell me."
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