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Fightin' Phil: Simms Has Confrontation With Desmond Howard

Former New York Giants quarterback and current CBS analyst Phil Simms got into a "heated conversation" with ESPN's Desmond Howard during an event today. According to Howard's Twitter account, Simms threatened to hit him because of remarks Howard had made about Simms' son, Matt, a quarterback at Tennessee.

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At NFL-Xperience and Phil Simms just threatened 2 hit me b/c I said his son was 1 of the worse QBs in the SEC. I told him "LET'S GO!"

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I am DEAD serious about the Phil Simms thing. We all thought he was joking, but he kept going and said he wanted 2 take a swing at me!!

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It ended w/police stepping in between so I could continue my appearance w/fans.

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Simms tried to downplay the incident.

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"Desmond and I were having a private conversation that became heated," Simms said in a statement released by CBS. "But at no time was there ever a chance of any physical confrontation, or that I felt the police officer assigned to me by the event planners for my appearance needed to separate the two of us."

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Love Simms. He is and will always be one of my favorite Giants of all time. It sounds to me, however, like Phil is way off base here. Howard is a college football analyst for ESPN, and being critical of a player when warranted is part of the job. Simms should know that. It's part of his job, too. I am sure Simms has said things during his broadcast career that made players unhappy. He needs to be able to take it, too, even if no one enjoys hearing one of their kids criticized.

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