Simms preaches patience

“I keep all my notes from other seasons,’’ said Simms, who is in his 12th season at CBS Sports and his sixth as the color analyst alongside play-by-play voice Jim Nantz on the network’s lead broadcast team. “And if I looked at my notes from, you know, this point of last year, it would say stuff like, ‘Jim Zorn, what a great young coach! Jason Campbell, this kid’s a budding star at quarterback! Jerry Jones, one of the best owners in professional football!’

“So, yeah, I learned a long time ago that no matter how much you think you know about this game, the opinions you have in October could look pretty darn foolish in January.’’

The Patriots’ matchup this Sunday with the Titans will mark the third of four consecutive weeks Nantz and Simms will call a New England game. Simms said he appreciates seeing a team multiple times in a matter of weeks.

“It’s definitely not boring,’’ Simms said. “You become familiar with more players, you recognize more things the coaches are trying to do. And it’s always fun to cover teams that you have relationships with.

“I’ve known Bill Belichick since 1979 [when Simms was a rookie with the Giants and Belichick was an assistant coach]. People ask me all the time how he is when he meets with us. I say, ‘He’s great,’ and they say, ‘Really?’ But it’s true.’’

Though Simms is more familiar with the Patriots than most teams (“In 2007, I think we had the Patriots in seven of eight weeks at one point’’), he is taking the same let-it-play-out approach rather than searching for any instant conclusions about Belichick’s 3-2 squad.

“What they are right now, good and bad, is not what they will resemble at the end of the year,’’ Simms said. “I know it’s hard to do in this business, and for fans, too, but you have to watch the progression over the season rather than making snap judgments.

“I remember seeing the Titans last year in about Week 14, the best team in the league at the time, and thinking to myself during the game, ‘Hey, there’s a crack I haven’t seen before.’ And they were out in the [divisional playoffs, losing to Baltimore].’’

Simms, who was curious during a phone interview as to whether New England fans were pessimistic about the team, said he expects that time will still prove the Patriots to be among the league’s best this season.

“Nothing I saw last week, or see this week, or will see next week is going to overwhelm me or change my opinion drastically,’’ Simms said. “And nothing I’ve seen so far has changed my mind that they’re going to be a team to contend with at the end of the year.’’

Simms, who spent 14 seasons with the Giants and was Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXI, also preaches patience when it comes to Tom Brady, who has been inconsistent in his return from a severe knee injury.

“Peyton Manning missed the preseason last year [after knee surgery], and he said it took him five or six weeks to shake the rust off,’’ Simms said. “He admitted it. Tom missed a whole year. A year. Of course he’s not going to be the same right away.’’