As much as football analyst Chris Simms may prefer to keep emotion out of his opinions, today’s Oregon-USC game was really not the time for that.
The big talking point this evening has been the massive hit that USC linebacker Desman Stephens II laid on Oregon QB Dante Moore that sent the Oregon star to the hospital. Many fans demanded that Stephens be suspended or at least ejected from the game over the hit.
But Simms was one of the first and few analysts who defended Stephens (to a point). During a college football halftime segment on NBC, Simms put some of the blame on Moore for sliding “very late” and asked fans to show more sympathy to Stephens for being in a “no-win situation.” He also added that Stephens and the Trojans seemingly celebrating the hit on Moore was a “bad look” for them.
“Dante Moore, I do think, slid very late, and put the defender in a kind of no-win situation,” Simms said during the segment.
Fans Lash Out
Chris Simms has been one of more polarizing football analysts for a while now. Many of his takes are viewed as contrarian so he’s already got a pretty sizeable number of people who can’t stand him.
But this take pushed many of them over the edge. Some fans took to X and demanded that he be fired over what he said:
“Fire Chris Simms for stupidity,” one user declared on X.
“Flop of a take. Is he trying to be hired by ESPN?” asked another.
“Chris Simms can go home,” a third wrote.
“Worse pathetic stupid (expletive) take ever (Simms). Shameful. Should be removed. Wasn’t late not at all just stupid disgusting. @NBCSports should be embarrassed with this (expletive) on tv.”
“The most disgusting analysis of a dirty hit I’ve ever seen. Chris Simms should not be allowed back on television.”
Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
There’s a time and a place to give “deep and complex analysis.” But when fans are literally crying in fear that a player they love might have suffered a career-ending injury, maybe it’s better to wait until after things have cooled off a bit.
Fortunately for Simms, he doesn’t seem to react much to people absolutely crushing him online, so he probably won’t even notice the backlash.
