The Loop
After this latest gaffe, Stephen A. Smith needs to retire from talking about football
Here at The Loop, we're not afraid to say how much we love Stephen A. Smith. The man is a content machine, an entertainer of the highest order. In my humble opinion, he's worth every penny of the reported $10 million he makes per year for ESPN. That said, Smith needs to retire from talking about football.
On multiple occasions last season, Smith showed a glaring lack of knowledge about the sport, both at the college and pro level. In December, while breaking down a monumental Kansas City Chiefs versus L.A. Chargers game, Smith made two huge errors that produced one of the memes of the year thanks to Tedy Bruschi's hilarious reaction:
After getting rightfully ripped to shreds, Smith excused the mistake as a product of him "doing a thousand things." Fair enough. He's a busy guy that ESPN runs into the ground. I'd imagine he's a bit fried at times. Fine, one bad mistake.
Just two months later, Smith was called upon to discuss Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who was expected to be picked in the first round of the NFL Draft (he later was selected 15th by the Washington Redskins). Had you watched one game Haskins played at OSU, just one, you could see he was a thrower, not a runner. Let's see how Smith described his skill set:
At least he added "I could be wrong about that" afterward. It's almost like he knew there was a chance he'd be very wrong. Technically, he got that part right.
Smith was up to his old tricks on Monday's edition of "First Take," when the topic of conversation shifted to the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas' offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore, has been impressive in his first two games in the position, and Smith has taken notice. This take was going well for Stephen A. until he said that Moore was an upgrade over .... Chan Gailey???
You remember Chan Gailey, right? Oh, you don't? Probably because he last coached in 2016 for the New York Jets. That was three years after he had last coached for the Buffalo Bills. Before that, Gailey was in Kansas City, and before that he was the head coach at Georgia Tech for five years. The last time Gailey was in Dallas was the 1998-'99 season, and he was the head coach, not the offensive coordinator. YIKES.
Perhaps Smith was thinking of Scott Linehan, who Moore replaced as OC this season after Linehan held the job from 2015-'18. Stephen A. is making $10 million this year, and he's not going anywhere. He'll be back on "First Take" today, tomorrow, the day after that and the day after that. He will continue to discuss football despite seemingly knowing very little about it. But thinking Chan Gailey was the OC in Dallas last year should bar him from discussing football ever again. It won't, but it should.