By Ralph Vacchiano / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

As soon as the words were coming out of his mouth, when Phil Simms was telling the world he doesn’t think Eli Manning is an elite quarterback, he knew the mess he was creating.

He immediately thought “Oh boy, this will really create some controversy.”

It certainly did. And though Simms didn’t sound pleased with that on Wednesday morning, he still refused to back down.

“I still said it,” Simms said on WFAN’s Boomer & Carton morning show. “You know, when I got done I could’ve said ‘You know, let’s redo that,’ because at that time we were taping a little segment. But I do stand by how I meant it.”

The meaning seemed clear when Simms said Manning “is not one of the elites” during his “NFL Monday QB” show on the CBS Sports Network. He explained, “When I hear the word ‘elite,’ I’m thinking about guys that can make unbelievable plays on the field by themselves. There are very few quarterbacks in that category.”

Simms said he didn’t mean that as a shot at Manning (“Of course not,” he said on WFAN). And he added that there is a fine line quarterback and an “elite” one.

“You know, it makes headlines, but we’re splitting hairs here,” Simms said. “I get it asked all the time, ‘Is so-and-so elite?’ And I go, ‘Oh my gosh, please, somebody stick a needle in my eye.’ I’m just tired of answering it and hearing it.

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