Stephen A. Smith and Tyreek Hill may need to have a face-to-face discussion to settle their differences.
During Tuesday’s edition of ESPN’s “First Take,” one of the topics that was discussed was whether Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is the clear-cut NFL MVP through six weeks of the season. Smith used the opportunity to discuss how Hill is one of the most explosive wide receivers in NFL history. Smith said all Tagovailoa has to do is throw a 2-yard pass to Hill and Tyreek does the rest.
Hill and many others took exception to Smith’s commentary. They felt Smith was trying to downplay Tagovailoa’s accomplishments. Hill then said on his podcast that Smith has not been watching the Dolphins closely enough. Hill also said he is “sick and tired of people bashing my quarterback for no reason.” You can see the video here.
Smith then returned fire during Friday’s episode of “First Take.” He said this is the first time he has ever had to defend himself after calling a player one of the greatest of all time. Smith also spoke about how he has never claimed to be a football genius but pays plenty close attention. He even told Hill to “watch your mouth.”
“I got seven TVs in my basement. I’m watching all the games, so to accuse me of not watching the games. Tyreek Hill, please watch your mouth,” Smith said. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, OK? But I wasn’t saying that Tua is throwing 3-yard passes. I was saying that’s all he had to do to accentuate my point that you are so great. I believe you deserve to be the MVP candidate for the Dolphins even more than Tua. That was the debate.”
You can hear more from Smith below:
𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚: Stephen A Smith tells Tyreek Hill to “watch his mouth” after Tyreek says Stephen A doesn’t watch the #Dolphins games, via @FirstTake
He also seemingly walked back his take that Tua only throws two yard passes and Tyreek takes them 50 yards, saying that wasn’t… pic.twitter.com/gDaWIATVUg
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) October 20, 2023
Even ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky called Smith out this week for downplaying Tagovailoa’s accomplishments, so Hill certainly is not the only one who interpreted the remarks that way.
Hill was probably also responding to the argument that that Tagovailoa is a product of Mike McDaniel’s excellent offensive system. The Dolphins coach made it clear this week how he feels about that narrative.
