WE want Phil Simms back. Immediately.

Lately, we’ve grown fearful that he’s slipping, from light-shiner to same-old-nonsense-talker.

Last Sunday, during Steelers-Bengals, Chad Johnsonpulled down what was ruled as a completed pass near midfield. Pittsburgh challenged. After a lengthy delay – including TV commercials – to inspect microscopic evidence through super slo-mo replays, the call, which could have gone either way, was reversed: incomplete pass.

“Such a bang-bang play,” said Simms. “That’s why we have instant replay.”

No, it isn’t; that’s not even close to why we have instant replay. Nor is “instant” replay even close to being instant.

If stopping games cold for several minutes at a time to sift through micro evidence in order to reverse a reception at midfield is what the NFL had in mind, there wouldn’t be a replay rule. The replay rule, installed to correct the egregiously incorrect, is mostly used in unintended fashion.

And that’s the kind of stuff we rely on Simms to tell us.