The Curse Of Chris Simms

March 18th, 2020

Can Tom Brady break the curse?

The Bucs have never won a playoff game since they won the Super Bowl to cap the 2002 NFL season.

And that following offseason, the Bucs drafted who they thought would be their franchise quarterback of the future, Chris Simms. He did lead the Bucs to a playoff berth in 2005, but the Bucs fell short to the Redskins 17-10 on a Saturday night in Tampa.

Simms later gave his spleen for the team, and was never the same again.

In Tuesday’s edition of “PFT Live,” seen weekday mornings on NBC Sports Network (it’s now radio only as the network has its producers self-isolate during this coronavirus pandemic crisis), the creator, curator and overall guru of Pro Football Talk, the great Mike Florio, believes the Bucs have been on a playoff win drought because his co-host, Simms, cursed the team.

Hopefully, the Bucs now have a quarterback to break the curse. Or should have a quarterback with that capability.

All signs point to Tom Brady signing with the Bucs today. Simms thinks this is a fantastic move by Team Glazer and he predicted Brady will be welcomed by Bucs fans with open arms.

“He will be King of the City,” Simms said of Brady.

Florio agreed, adding the signing of Brady “elevates the brand and restores the luster” of the Bucs.

Unlike Skip Bayless of FS1, Florio isn’t quite ready to crown the Bucs. Simms thinks the Bucs have the potential, with Brady, to do damage in the NFC.

You can see (and hear) Florio and Simms talk at length about what signing Brady will mean to the Bucs in the NBC Sports video below.

42 Responses to “The Curse Of Chris Simms”

  1. Hethrew 30 Says:

    The Bucs have gone from having the worst QB in the NFC South to the best one in the NFC South. They are instant contenders.

    Clearly the Glazers stepped in and provided some specific direction to Licht..and Arians. It is theri way of apologizing to fans for making us suffer the last five years. They got sucked into Winston’s BS and tried to make him something he’s not, something he never will be: a face of a franchise. Winston lacks the discipline and character, and the Glazers have heard the fans loud and clear. They know Winston flat out screwed them after they gave him evey chance…handed him it all on the silver platter. And after he flipped them off with is Uber disgrace, they still gave him $21 million and another chance. And he did it again.

    The Bucs will now have a QB that actually gets results, who doesn’t go around sayin’ he’s ballin’, wanting to be paid for his effort alone. Brady sets the example. Always has. Good riddance Winston!

  2. Steven Says:

    Will never forget watching Simms vs Panthers that game
    What a warrior. I knew as I was watching something special at the time. Simms forever a Buccaneer legend for that game. Imagine Simms in today’s you can’t breathe on the QB league.

  3. Formerly Tampa 2 Says:

    It was more like the curse of Jon Gruden, not Simms. Like Winston, the Glazers made many mistakes with the Bucs. And hopefully, they have learned from those mistakes and are ready to make the Bucs fans feel relevant once again. Winston isn’t a bad guy on a personal level. He just isn’t on the elite QB level mentally. But the ones to watch and see if they have learned from their mistakes are the Glazers. Hopefully they have.

  4. Clean House Says:

    That’s a big statement- is he best in the NFC south?
    I mean yes championships talk, but Brees has been in his Saints offense for years where Brady is new again with a learning curve of sorts

  5. BucsFanSince1976 Says:

    Arians offense depends on delivering the ball well downfield on long passes , FYI-Brady ain’t that guy. Bucs go 6-10 and miss playoffs. Curse of Simms unbroken. JW will join Williams , Young , and Dilfer on the ever growing list of ex-Buc QB’s to win a ring anywhere but the cursed earth that is Tampa. Brady will not last past game 5 with the Oline of the Bucs , and if by some miracle he does , it will not matter as delivering the ball on long passes takes time and accuracy , neither of which does or will Brady have. Maybe Giselle could design some new uniforms as that will be the only lasting imprint the Brady clan will have on this sorry NFL franchise.

  6. Buc_You-2 Says:

    Unless Winston gets a brain transplant he ain’t going anywhere and winning a Superbowl.

  7. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    I spent last night watching most every report (Youtube) on Brady coming to Tampa. All of them were hugely positive and generally excited for the Bucs.

    The Bucs along with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are receiving more positive press than ever before.

  8. JA Says:

    First there was the curse of Doug Williams, then Chucky, and now Simms? Think it’s time for a “gimme a break” moment.
    This team doesn’t need a witch doctor. Like all successful teams, it needs good players and good coaching.
    I prefer talent over mumbo-jumbo.

  9. '79 Defense Says:

    I always liked Simms as a player for the Bucs and was at the playoff game.

    If only he could have drove them down the field on that last drive to tie it up and then gone on to win, I think we could have gone far and maybe won another SB. The defense was basically as good as ever. –A fumble by Cadillac that was returned for a TD didn’t help.

  10. Buc believer Says:

    It feels SO freaking great to believe again!!!!!

  11. Buc believer Says:

    Joe PLEASE still with the moderation tag? How much does one need to pay for past sins??? I swore I would leave the sacred subject alone and I have. Sheesh!

  12. Bucsfanman Says:

    1976- This is a misnomer of Arian’s offense. It’s not all fly routes, but it is take the shot when it’s there. There were many plays where Jameis threw downfield into double coverage when a wide open WR or TE was crossing in front of him.
    While I disagree with your assessment, I do realize that Brady’s old and diminished. He’s still a better QB and we needed better QB play.

  13. Jsmalls Says:

    Hethrew 30,

    Suffering the last 5 years? WTF have you been? While Jameis’ teams didn’t get results at least we could score points it’s been an absolute nightmare since Gruden left to put it on one player shows you don’t know sh!t

  14. AtlBucs Says:

    I am a Jameis supporter but I support this move. Even though Brady’s abilities have diminished, I think his adjustments at the line will be huge!

  15. 40 TDs Says:

    High level BACKUP!!!!!!!

    40TDs dude! Check the sheet!!!!!

    BTW I’m not quarantined!!!! Somebody call!!!!

    CHECK THE SHEET?!?!?!?!??!

  16. Defense Rules Says:

    Sorry Hebrew 30, but the Bucs aren’t ‘instant contenders’ by any stretch of the imagination. TEAMS win championships, and there’s a lot more to being a TEAM than having a 43-year-old as your QB. A LOT more.

    IMO, Tom Brady is truly the GOAT, but it was the marriage of Brady & Belicheck that made it so. Brady’s been amazingly consistent over the years, but a huge part of that was Belicheck I’d contend. Example: Pats won the SB in 2001 with Brady going 11-3. Tom threw 18 TDs that season … 18 (the lowest of his career). Pats were equally BALANCED on offense in terms of passing & rushing. The Pats defense only allowed 272 points & was amazingly consistent game-to-game in the regular season AND the playoffs (a Belicheck trademark IMO). Above all else, the Pats didn’t beat themselves. IOW, it was a TEAM championship.

    Now look at the Bucs. We’ve been the poster child for teams who beat themselves. The INTs speak for themselves, but look at a couple of others. Penalties? League leader … with Arians as our HC. Defense? Yup, we’ve kinda had problems holding onto leads.

    Brady will help some (hopefully) in getting the penalties cut down. But the defense? We’re several starters/key rotational players short right now (DT/DE/LB/S) AND we lack DEPTH. Matter of fact, we lack DEPTH on defense AND offense. And we now have very little salary Cap room to fix that. So no Hebrew, we’re not ‘instant contenders’. I’m more concerned that we just sold our soul to fill the seats for the Glazers, and that it’ll come back to bite us in the arse soon enough. But hey, compared to coronavirus, football is a nice diversion but that’s all it is.

  17. Chris@Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa Says:

    I am a Jameis supporter but I support this move

  18. Ndog Says:

    The best thing about this move is that FINALLY everyone will be held accountable and the crutch this entire city/team/coaching staff used is gone. We can finally look at this team as a TEAM and not blame any one person for losses. Cause goodness knows it won’t be Brady’s fault if we don’t win. Hopefully we don’t have to find out but if we do we finally can look at things the way I always have, from an entire team perspective.

  19. Bird Says:

    I sure miss jameis 1 of 1
    And what happened to july joe

    You think we will ever see them again?
    They ripped people for not agreeing that jameis would get a huge deal here

  20. WyomingBucsFan Says:

    I can still see Shepherd separating from the Redskins defensive back deep in the right corner of the end zone only to drop the perfectly place pass from Chris Sims. Would have tied the game. I had tickets to the next round playoff game in Seattle that the Bucs should have went to. I went to the game anyway and watched the Seahawks beat the panthers. Seattle went on to win the Super bowl I believe.

  21. Bird Says:

    HahahahHahahaha

    Ndog tried to make everyone believe he was a bucs fan and not a jameis fan so he would support the GOAT as his qb now

    Yet look at the little guy go ^^^^how fake

    We dont want you here anymore NDOG
    There is real excitement in tampa.
    Tickets are backed up…espn and nfl covered Brady to bucs all last night

    You are trash
    Go back to being just a Noles fan
    And sell your tickets to a real buc fan that want them

  22. WhatTheBuc Says:

    BF1976 is coming with the same BS that all undereducated fans spout because they don’t watch the entire league. First, the Bucs line was a top pass blocking unit (#7 overall according to PFF). Brady played behind a very poor line last season. Worse than our line by far due to losing 2 starters for the year. If the QB holds the ball too long, that’s not on the blocking. Also rest assured that the line will be improved through FA or the draft. Secondly, Arians offense does not require the QB to make long throws. It’s more intermediate 10-20 yard passes. Brady does not have a weak arm as he was in the upper part of the league for passes over 20 yards in 2019 (with garbage receivers). Third, Brady is not injury prone and not likely to be injured early in the season. In 20 years Brady has only missed significant time once. If you’re not going to come with facts keep you BS to yourself 1976. Maybe the game has passed you by.

  23. D-Rome Says:

    The best thing about this move is that FINALLY everyone will be held accountable

    The fact that Jay-Miss still doesn’t have a job proves he’s still being held accountable for his terrible play over the past five years.

  24. Guzzie Says:

    The curse of Winston is the one that’s really going to hurt, we better pray he doesn’t go to the Patriots, what better way to stick it to TB and TB than Winston going there and winning a Super Bowl while we suffer with a noodle arm Brady who gets hurt behind our horrible line

  25. Ed Kerber Says:

    I’d like to see Suh and Clowney signed for D. I’d also like to see one more Vet signed for offense (either cheap RB, WR, or OT). Then
    draft the best available in this order:

    OT RB WR OG OT LB KR.

  26. Buczilla Says:

    Cool video, thanks, Joe.

  27. I Bleed Pewter Says:

    If Jameis is willing to sign for less then why not have him backup Brady?

  28. Tackleblockwin Says:

    I’m loving this. It was many months ago when I mentioned how awesome it would be if Brady to the Bucs occurred. Many of you laughed at me lol. Bottom line is this…We are going to need to find a backup that can learn behind Brady. We need to get the most out of this situation when considering our future as an organization. You don’t sign the GOAT thinking just short term. I hope they realize how important it is to grab a young promising QB this season to soak up as much as possible from Tom because we all know this is a short term situation.

  29. carzyBucs_CL Says:

    how come that for 5 years a lot of people, including the owner of this blog, were not seeing, what the rest of us and the world were…

    MSN Sport:
    “Jameis Winston, who led the NFL with 5,109 passing yards in 2019, has been replaced by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at quarterback, as the Bucs are expected to sign Tom Brady. Since he didn’t know what was going to happen in Tampa Bay, Winston has not found a new home yet. In the meantime, numerous other quarterback vacancies have been filled.

    – Philip Rivers is going to the Indianapolis Colts

    – Teddy Bridgewater is going to the Carolina Panthers

    – Marcus Mariota is joining the Raiders

    – Ryan Tannehill re-signed with Tennessee

    – Case Keenum is going to Cleveland

    The Patriots need a starting quarterback, while Chicago and the Chargers are among other teams that could use a backup/second option.

    I don’t see Bill Belichick preferring Winston, a turnover machine, to Newton, but maybe to Dalton. The bottom line is the top two picks from the 2015 draft — Winston and Marcus Mariota — may end up being backups in 2020, which is not the way most people saw things going.”

    …waiting for 4pm to get exited for REAL 🙂

  30. Dom>Licht Says:

    Curse of Allen Dominick Licht and piss poor drafting for 18 years

  31. Ndog Says:

    Unlike you and many others Bird I am always excited about my team. I don’t need to wait for one player to come in to get excited. You see us real fans love our team not one player so while you might get excited now that we have Brady I am always excited about my team. So you can hope, pray, beg do whatever you want but I’m not going anywhere and yes like always everyone will be held accountable just like every player before this year. The difference between me and others is I don’t find a scapegoat and turn a blind eye to every other issue that exists.

  32. Bucs Fan Since ‘76 Says:

    Please don’t confuse me with BucsFanSince1976. 😎 I wish Jameis well. But we got the GOAT! Do any of us truly understand what that will mean for the area, the franchise, and the fans? And if the team starts winning? Here’s to the next two years! May they be twice as good as 2002! 🍻

  33. El Buco Realisto Says:

    There is only one thing the sheep love more than winning, and that is signing the biggest name in free-agency!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    go bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  34. 813bucboi Says:

    ndog

    32 teams are finally holding JW accountable for 30INTs…..lol…

    brady signing here proves we have the talent to win now…..

    JW still sitting at home proves he is who we thought he was…a BUST!!!!!

    GO BUCS!!!!!

  35. Bird Says:

    Ndog

    Yah right. You have ripped every single player on the team not named jameis ..coaches too….jameis turns the ball over 6 times in carolina game and you go thru each turnover and try to avoid pointing figure at jameis

    Yah. You care about team.

    Fake as$ snitch. Like you support brady.
    So fake

  36. Sport Says:

    El Bucco – all you do is ‘copy and paste’, That should be your new name.

    I see NDog has finally transformed. Nice to see.

    This is fun, enjoy the ride!

    In BA I Trust!

  37. WestChap Says:

    100% agree that teams not single players win championships… but players build teams and TB12 will join a solid stable of glue guys holding the Bucs accountable for reaching higher… JPP and Suh were the most important FA signings of the last decade and TB12 will be that on offense. We have 2-3 years of sheer wonder before us… anything is possible… and then still have a young group of future leaders on coaching staff, offense and defense to continue on:

    The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades!

  38. stpetebucsfan Says:

    D.R.

    I realize from your moniker how much you love D…and I certainly take your points about how we got unbalanced capwise with #weaponsforJameis…I think spending the big $$$ on our two star edge rushers certainly moves us in the right direction. Remember the crap guys like you and me got for supporting D White as the 5th pick…we now have two STUD LBs..with great speed…speed kills..but you’re a former fighter plane jockey so you know this better than me.

    As far as the cap…NFL Net is reporting Tampa Tom’s contract as maxing out at 30 million…didn’t specify bonuses or how that figure was derived but if 30 million is the max…then it seems to me this works out as a straight up swap…JW’s 30 million…probably 25? with a tag?….IE Brady hasn’t actually harmed our cap at all.

    What we are looking at IMO is risk management…
    Do we think the GOAT is over the hill? He played very well last year on a poor Pat offense where Belicheat…always a defensive coach overloaded his D at the expense of his O. Just one of the reasons Brady bailed.

    The risk of course is that he’s too old…or take that risk with JW who clearly has an arm but nothing above the shoulders…could we really mold that package into a winner…perhaps…but BA thought otherwise.

    My biggest fear going forward is the virus has certainly changed EVERYTHING.
    Spring practice is surely gone…and for that matter if this thing doesn’t peak in the 45 days being bandied about we may lose August and even Sept. That would mean Brady has to come to a new team to instill a culture change…learn and mesh with BA on a new system…get comfortable with new targets…with NO real time to accomplish this.

    My biggest hope is that TB12 can finally bring out the talent we all know OJ is yet to realize. Imagine the OJ we all imagined with ME and Godwin and Brady!

  39. GhostofSchiano Says:

    Is this what it feels like to have HOPE?

    Been a long time coming

  40. LordCornelius Says:

    lol so now the sheep are Brady fans. When does this end.

  41. WestChap Says:

    If admiring Brady’s game makes me a sheep… been one for a long time! Very happy to be able to be root for both Brady and my Bucs at the same time.

  42. Brandon Says:

    Worst officiating in a playoff game ever in the Redskins game. Chris Simms forced a clear fumble and got the recovery after a Lavar Arrington INT was brought back to the 5. Officials ruled no fumble and it couldn’t be reviewed. Cadillac Williams lost a fumble that was returned for a TD. The Redskins player should’ve been ruled down at the spot as Williams’ leg was on top of the defender. Call not overturned. Simeon Rice knocked the ball out of Marl Brunell’s hands and Ronde Barber picked it up en route to a sure TD. Whistle blew play dead. Review only allowed for Rice sack as the play was originally ruled an incomplete pass and the whistle killed the recovery and return. That game should’ve been an easy win but instead bad plays caused a 21 point swing in a 7 point game. NFL officials should have all been fired.