Loud mouth Stephen A. Smith gave the Pittsburgh Steelers, and more specifically, cornerback Ike Taylor, some bulletin board material this morning on ESPN First Take.
When Smith and co-host Skip Bayless got to the part of the show where they broke down the Steelers opener Sunday night against the Denver Broncos, Smith went off on Taylor and used him as a reason why the Broncos would beat the Steelers.
“Defensively is where the problem is for the Pittsburgh Steelers,” said Smith. First of all you still got Ike Taylor in your secondary. I didn’t realize he was allowed back in the NFL after the way he performed against the Broncos.”
Bayless then jokingly asked if Taylor should be banned now for his performance last January in the AFC Wild Card game against the Broncos.
“Banishment is a word in consideration,” said Smith. “I say that jokingly because I am sure he\’s a good guy and all of that stuff, but Ike Taylor, I\’m sorry baby, but I haven’t gotten over how much you let me down in that game with (Tim) Tebow. I\’m sorry, but Its going to be a long time before I get over that one. That was one of the most horrific performances by a cornerback I have ever seen in NFL History.”=
Smith was not done there as he listed linebacker James Harrison possibly not playing Sunday as another reason why the Broncos would win. He said that he didn\’t like the fact that Harrison was refusing to talk to the media on Thursday and called him out for that.
“He\’s not talking to the media, which is something that Commissioner (Roger) Goodell should visit,” said Smith. Who do you think you are? Play football, answer the questions and go home.”
Smith went on to recap why the Broncos would win.
“You\’ve got questions about Harrison, Ryan Clark is out, and Ike Taylor is in,” said Smith. “All the combination of all three of those things, and your talking about Peyton Manning, somebody who really can throw. who knows how to run an offense. Who knows about clock management. He can do it all. He\’s Peyton Manning, the greatest regular season quarterback in NFL history, according to Skip Bayless. All of those things considered, I just don\’t see how Denver can lose this game.”
After that entire rant Smith was asked to pick the score of the game and Bayless suggested based on the rant, 38-7.
Smith ranted a little more and then said, “I\’m thinking, 27-23.”
Smith must not realize that head coach Mike Tomlin has gotten on his players during training camp for talking about injuries. He also should be aware that Harrison did talk to the media on Friday and answered all of their questions.
Taylor of course was not too happy when the word got back to him about what Smith said and took to Twitter to share his thoughts, which you read below.
You can listen to the audio below which starts around the 18:00 minute mark.
[audio:http://c.espnradio.com/s:5L8r1/audio/1151980/firsttake_2012-09-07-123920.mp3]
