Everyone knows that New York and New Jersey can really stink sometimes. The population density, the sewers, and the general pollution combine to create an offensive odor. ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith has another culprit (or two) in mind for that stench, however.
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He was truly in fine form on Friday during the filming of his ESPN show First Take. Giants owner John Mara had just released a statement confirming QB Daniel Jones’ departure at the end of a protracted and messy divorce. Mere hours after that, Stephen A. unloaded with the cameras rolling.
He blamed that swamp stench in East Rutherford, New Jersey on the Jets and Giants, rather than the sewers and such, and did so in a way only Stephen A. could:
“Here in New Jersey, it’s East Rutherford, New Jersey. It’s a swamp there. When you’re driving on the New Jersey turnpike, the stench, the smell just hits you. We have been wondering for years, whether it’s the sewage smell in the swamp, or is this the Giants.”
And he wasn’t done there. Not only would the Giants suffer Stephen A.’s wrath, but the struggling Jets would take a few punches too:
“Alright. And by the way, we got distracted, because it could have been the Jets too, because they share the same damn stadium. In the end, what it comes down to is, the only thing that has saved the Giants from being credited with the stench that exists, is the New York Jets, who ain’t been in the playoffs since 2010, as well as, the actual swamp and the smell itself, because we know it’s bad. The Giants are awful, awful.”
It might not be his all-time best rant, but that one has to be put up for consideration for enshrinement in the Hall of Fame of Stephen A. Smith rants.
The language he used, the flow of the monologue, and the allegory between the East Rutherford swamp and the NFL teams were simply perfect. And, not that it really needed saying: he was right about both the Jets and the Giants.
Both New York teams must start a massive rebuild in 2025
Before going off on the New York organizations as a whole, Smith had a few arrows in his quiver for some specific members of the team.
He started off by listing all of the failed coaches that have come through the Giants organization recently, before then taking aim at general manager Joe Schoen. Smith eviscerated Schoen, blaming him for Saquon Barkley’s departure, the naive organizational belief in Jones, and for showing off on Hard Knocks.
The Giants are in dire straits. As Smith said, they are “awful”, and that wasn’t an exaggeration. They lost their best player (Barkley) to a divisional rival because they believed in a QB that was so bad that they cut him before Week 12. Not to mention the awful contract they’d handed that QB previously. They have some good pieces in the skill positions and along the defensive front, but that’s about it.
The Jets, for their part, might be in slightly better shape. They’ll also have to part ways with a highly-paid QB that fell shockingly short of expectations. They’ve already begun a new era, however, as owner Woody Johnson has fired both his GM and HC. They’re ready for a clean slate, and they also have tons of talent on their roster.
Perhaps the only positive coming out of the debacles in New York right now, whether Giants or Jets, is that they have infuriated pundit Stephen A. Smith to no end. The way the Giants handled the Daniel Jones fiasco made Smith—who is a New York native, having grown up in Queens—more irritated and irritable than we’ve seen him in a while.
