Back in August, CBS’s Thursday Night Football commentator, and former New York Giants quarterback, Phil Simms, said that he wasn’t going to use the Washington football team’s name during their game against the Giants.

Well, that game was last night and Simms let slip the team’s name at least three times, the Post reports.

“I made that decision and I’m not going into what really drove me to it, but it offends a certain group of people and I have sympathy for them,” he said in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “So I can have sympathy for them and I am not denigrating the other side. Will I refer to their nickname? Look, I have already done it. It is a habit. I played for 15 years and they were a bitter rival. There is a chance I could slip.”

But the big story isn’t that he let the name slip a few times—who cares, right? Well, actually quite a few fans do, not because he said the name, but because he’s trying to avoid saying it. At yesterday’s Thursday night match against the Giants at FedEx Field, numerous fans were spotted with signs urging people to “Save the Name,” accompanied by a crossed out picture of Simms’ face:

Apparently they were being handed out to fans entering FedEx Field prior to the game. Last night was the only Thursday night game of the team’s schedule this season, so we’ll have to wait until next year for round two of Phil Simms vs. Washington football team fans. Until then:

Filed Under: phill simms, washington football team, washington football team name change controversy,