The Only Thing Worse Than Stephen A. Smith's Latest On-Air Blunder Was His Attempt To Defend It
Stephen A. Smith caught a lot of flak for an on-air blunder he made on his show “First Take” on ESPN on Tuesday.
Smith was discussing the Washington Redskins’ quarterback situation and why he thought they should have made a run at Nick Foles, who agreed to a deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“I think the Washington Redskins should have brought him on board,” Smith said of Foles. “I think he should have been a member of the Washington Redskins.
“I don’t think Alex Smith is going to be ready to come back from his injury next season. I think his career is in jeopardy.
“If you look at the Redskins last year, they had five different quarterbacks — Alex Smith, Josh Johnson, Colt McCoy, they even got Mr. ‘Butt Fumble’ himself, Mark Sanchez, OK, and some guy named Tress Way actually started one game.”
Way is the Redskins punter. He threw one pass on a fake punt during the regular season but never played quarterback.
Smith took some heat on social media for his latest blunder.
Punter Tress Way started at QB last year for the @Redskins ???
I mean, cmon @stephenasmith ?
?
— Will Blackmon (@WillBlackmon) March 12, 2019
Redskins punter Tress Way is a QB, according to Stephen A. Smith https://t.co/3R6XDVoLV1
— TheRedskinsWire (@TheRedskinsWire) March 13, 2019
Later, on his ESPN Radio show, Smith addressed the criticism, calling it “the kind of nonsense I have to deal with.”
He claimed he was just going down the list of Redskins who threw passes when he mentioned Way.
“This morning, I’m talking about the Redskins and they need a quarterback,” Smith said. “I bring up Alex Smith, I bring up Josh Johnson, I bring up Mark Sanchez, I bring up Colt McCoy and I mentioned Tress Way because he threw one pass for seven yards as a punter.
“But I’m just talking about guys that threw a pass. ‘Aw, Stephen A. thinks the Redskins punter started last year as a quarterback.’ I’m just going down the list of guys that were on the list that threw passes.
“It’s amazing how people try to misconstrue everything that I say. I guess I truly am a superstar.”
Smith didn’t mention that he started his remark by saying the Redskins “had five different quarterbacks” and No. 5 on his list was Way, who he said “actually started one game.”
It’s not the first time he has made a big-time error when talking about the NFL.
Smith got mocked late last year when, while previewing the Los Angeles Chargers-Kansas City Chiefs game, he made four blunders in a short segment.
He said he was looking at how Chargers tight end Hunter Henry was playing in the 2018 season. Henry had been out all year and hadn’t played a snap up to that point.
Smith proceeded to say Henry would be facing Derrick Johnson, who not only wasn’t on the Chiefs but was out of football.
The ESPN host also said he had some faith in Spencer Ware when Ware had been ruled out of that game, and he called Kansas City’s opponents the “San Diego Chargers.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
