Geno Smith insists he is no longer thinking about the incident in which a former teammate punched him in the face and broke his jaw, but he wants to make one thing clear — he did not owe the guy a dime.
With the New York Jets set to take on the Buffalo Bills Thursday night, reporters tried to get some more information about what happened between Smith and I.K. Enemkpali, who is now with the Bills. Smith, who has maintained all along that he did nothing wrong, flat-out denied reports that claim he owed Enemkpali money.
“I didn’t owe him,” Smith told Kimberley A. Martin of Newsday. “No. That’s the biggest misconception in America.”
Boomer Esiason was the first to report that Smith was punched because he owed money, and details later emerged about a charity event that Smith supposedly agreed to attend but no-showed. As the story goes, Enemkpali sprung for Smith’s plane ticket and transportation and was angry that Smith didn’t reimburse him.
While Smith basically made it seem like he was punched for no reason, he said he is not holding a grudge against Enemkpali.
No. I’m a Christian,” he said, per Seth Walder of the New York Daily News. “I was raised to always forgive people, so that’s what I do.”
If you remember, there were multiple reports of sources who witnessed the incident and said Smith deserved it. Cris Carter also made headlines with his controversial take on the subject.
Of course, Rex Ryan has done his part to keep the Smith-Enemkpali incident at the forefront of the news cycle. He’s making Enemkpali a captain for Thursday night’s game. Smith said he is not surprised by Ryan’s decision.
“I don’t know why you guys are surprised. I really don’t,” he said. “I don’t think you are surprised. No one should be surprised.”
This should be a fun one.
