CBS NFL analyst Phil Simms got into a “heated” exchange with ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard at an NFL event on Saturday.
In a statement released through ESPN, Howard said Simms approached him at a public signing to “express anger over on-air analysis” he made about Simms’ son, Tennessee QB Matt Simms.
From there, things escalated, as Simms “made a reference to hitting” Howard, and “security and sponsor representatives soon stepped in.”
Howard: “It was an unfortunate incident and I’m moving on.”
In his own statement, released through CBS, Simms called the incident a “private conversation that became heated,” and denied the extent of security involvement. According to Simms, there was no indication that the “police officer assigned to me by the event planners for my appearance needed to separate the two of us.”
Howard initially reported the incident through his unverified Twitter account, which ESPN confirmed does belong to him.
“We all thought he was joking,” Howard said of Simms on the Twitter account, “but he kept going and said he wanted [to] take a swing at me! … It ended [with] police stepping in between so I could continue my appearance [with] fans.”
(Howard statement from ESPN; Simms statement from CBS via usatoday.com; twitter.com/desmond_howard)
