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Phil Simms: Al Davis offered me Raiders’ head-coaching job

Phil Simms

FILE - This Oct. 3, 2010, file photo shows former New York Giants player and current CBS analyst Phil Simms gesturing during the Ring of Honor Ceremony during an NFL football game between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants at New Meadowlands Stadium, in East Rutherford, N.J. Simms won’t call a game this week while he recovers from back surgery. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)

AP

As the NFL world remembers the late Raiders owner Al Davis, former Giants quarterback Phil Simms is offering up a particularly interesting memory.

Simms, who has never coached at any level, said on Inside the NFL that Davis once approached him about becoming the head coach of the Raiders.

“He did offer me to become a Raiders coach, and to be their head coach. I got interviewed over the phone for many, many hours,” Simms said.

Simms didn’t say when this conversation took place, and it sounds like he didn’t seriously consider accepting. He believes that if he had accepted the job it would have ended badly.

“Of course I turned it down,” Simms said. “I’m glad I did because how bitter would I be if I got hired and fired a few times?”

It’s strange to think about Phil Simms roaming the sideline in Oakland. And it’s another reminder that Al Davis did things very differently from the rest of the NFL.