Longtime NFL wide receiver Steve Smith was known for his personality. He also never forgets a slight, as he reminded everyone this week.
Smith appeared on Wednesday’s edition of “The Rich Eisen Show,” where he told the host about his beef with new Houston Texans coach David Culley. The real shocker is that Smith has been holding this resentment for 19 years, all based on one incident at the Pro Bowl.
As Smith told it, he was selected as the NFC’s kick returner as a rookie at the 2002 Pro Bowl. John Harbaugh, at the time the special teams coach for the Eagles staff that was coaching the NFC, suggested that Smith go over and join the NFC’s wide receivers, who were down a man.
“Get over there and Culley says, ‘Hey, we’re about to meet and go ahead and go back with the special teams.’ I said, ‘Well, the special teams coach, Coach Harbaugh told me to come over here,'” Smith recalled, via Mark Lane of Yahoo Sports. “‘Well, these are wide receivers.’ That’s what he said. And I walked back over there and he told me.
“So, after that, that just kind of tells me — so, the reason I say that is to this day Coach Culley will say, like you say ‘still holding that grudge,’ it’s not holding a grudge. It’s the fact I was a Pro Bowler. I was also — you were down a wide receiver, and the fact of the matter is you scooted me along because you didn’t believe I was a real wide receiver. So, that tells me your eye for athleticism and talent is as good as Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder’s eyes.”
In reality, one moment 19 years ago at a Pro Bowl tells us very little about Culley’s coaching acumen. That said, this is Steve Smith we’re talking about. The guy does not forget criticism, real or perceived.
There are definitely reasons to be skeptical of the Texans’ decision to hire Culley as head coach. This anecdote is not one of them, but it’s very on-brand for Smith.
