Stephen A. Smith Again Moves the Goalposts When ESPN Colleagues Call Out His Inaccurate Take About the Miami Dolphins
Stephen A. Smith on Thursday proved once again that even when he’s wrong, he’ll simply revise his original point to appear right.
Earlier in the week, Smith came under heavy criticism for his comments made about Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Smith claimed that the team’s success was based less on Tagovailoa throwing the ball deep down the field and more on receiver Tyreek Hill taking short throws and turning them into big plays.
As Smith was saying that on First Take, a series of highlights showed the QB doing exactly what Smith claimed he doesn’t do often.
“I don’t know if y’all watching Miami enough. All of these passes ain’t for 19, 20, 30, 40 yards. You just got Tua dipping it two yards to [Tyreek Hill].” – Stephen A. Smith.
We counted five long passes by Tua in the accompanying highlights package, while all of Tua’s short… pic.twitter.com/btq7YALLTj
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 17, 2023
When the conversation shifted to the Dolphins on Thursday’s episode, analyst Dan Orlovsky called Smith out.
“I got a ton of love for you, and I’m very thankful,” Orlovsky said. “You gotta stop saying Tua’s a dink-and-dunk quarterback.”
Naturally, Smith deflected by saying his words were misinterpreted.
“I didn’t say he’s a dink-and-dunk quarterback,” Smith asserted, eliciting an eyebrow raise from Kimberley Martin. “What I said is that there are times when he’s dinking and dunking to Tyreek Hill. Not all the time, not most of the time, but I was making a point that Tyreek Hill can take a 3-yard pass and take it to the house. I wasn’t trying to say that’s all Tua does. That is not accurate.”
That defense would be fine if Smith didn’t get on live TV days prior and make that exact implication.
Minutes later, Orlovsky pressed Smith again for his rhetoric when talking about Tagovailoa.
“You continue to intimate when you say, ‘Well, Tyreek Hill can take a 2-yard throw and turn it into a big-yard throw,'” Orlovsky said. “That’s true for every quarterback, but you make it very Tua-centric.”
Smith continued to stand his ground, even when Orlovsky noted that Tagovailoa is one of the NFL leaders in deep throws this season.
Martin pointed out how his own show proved his point wrong.
“Literally, they got highlights on this show,” she said.
Smith still wasn’t giving in.
“You did not hear me say, ‘That’s all Tua does,'” Smith responded. “That’s not true! It’s false! I am not going to allow you to come onto this show and give a false narrative about my assertions.”
Watch above via ESPN.
