Stephen A. Smith has no problem kicking Tom Brady while he’s down.
Brady’s legal team learned Wednesday the Patriots quarterback’s appeal to have his four-game Deflategate suspension reheard en banc was denied by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, meaning Jimmy Garoppolo could open the 2016 season as New England’s starting quarterback.
Smith, who’s never one to mince words, saw Brady’s latest legal defeat as an opportunity to vent about Deflategate, particularly as it relates to Brady’s alleged involvement.
That’s OK. Smith is entitled to his opinion, even if most Patriots fans probably think he should take his opinion and shove it where the sun don’t shine. The problem is Smith can’t seem to make up his mind when it comes to Brady and the underinflated football scandal that has hung over the Patriots and the NFL for the last 18 months.
Smith, as you might recall, is the same guy who said last October that Brady’s greatness shouldn’t be questioned and that the NFL should cut its losses rather than continue to pursue a harsh punishment for the Patriots quarterback.
“We want to see Tom Brady playing football. Bottom line,” Smith said at the time. “If Tom Brady is not playing on a Sunday because of injury or something like that, that’s entirely different. But if this man is not on a football field playing football because Roger Goodell and the NFL couldn’t let go of the issue of deflated footballs in the AFC Championship Game more than 10 months ago, I think it’s an absolute travesty. If you felt that adamant about it, you should have made sure he didn’t play in the Super Bowl.”
Speaking of Super Bowl, Smith didn’t exactly condemn the Patriots while talking with NESN.com leading up to Super Bowl 50 between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers. Much of his focus centered on Patriots coach Bill Belichick rather than Brady, but he still sounded far less fired up and far less bitter than the tweets he unleashed Wednesday suggest.
At the end of the day, let’s just be thankful we no longer have to watch Smith bicker with his former ESPN “First Take” co-host (and noted Brady supporter), Skip Bayless, because based on Bayless’ reaction to Wednesday’s news, the gloves would have come off and slapping would have ensued.
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports Images
