Stephen A. Smith called the comments from Dillon Gabriel “stupid” and “very dumb” when social media went ablaze Saturday. Mid-game, Gabriel was interviewed while on the sideline as the Browns played the Eagles. “It’s just part of it,” Gabriel said, referring to the media noise and drama. “There’s entertainers and there’s competitors. And I totally […]
Stephen A. Smith called the comments from Dillon Gabriel “stupid” and “very dumb” when social media went ablaze Saturday. Mid-game, Gabriel was interviewed while on the sideline as the Browns played the Eagles.
“It’s just part of it,” Gabriel said, referring to the media noise and drama. “There’s entertainers and there’s competitors. And I totally understand that. My job is to compete. That’s what I’m focused on doing. Of course, we’re doing this mid-game, but it’s something that I’ll get used to.
“Just want to be the best teammate I can and create an environment where we all can go do our best work. That’s all we want to do.”
Naturally, social media and others assumed he was talking about teammate and fellow rookie QB Shedeur Sanders. Smith acknowledged Gabriel wasn’t doing so, yet still teed off on the former Oregon star despite the latter even clarifying what he was talking about postgame.
“I never believed he was talking about Shedeur Sanders. I totally believed him when he said he was talking about the media. I want to get that out the way first,” Smith said on First Take. “I don’t think he was talking about Shedeur Sanders as well. I think when you heard the comparisons, the comparisons were emanating from the media more so than anybody else. And that’s what I think, that’s exactly who I think he was directing his comments towards. Having said that, Dillon Gabriel, respectfully, it was stupid, a very dumb comment to make.
“First of all, let me tell you something right now, in every walk of life, far beyond the court, you know the parameters of a football field, people are competing. We compete here on television. You compete with radio shows, you compete on Wall Street, you compete on Madison Avenue, everything, especially in America as it pertains to a capitalistic society, involves competition to the victor, goes to spoilers.”
Stephen A. Smith rips Dillon Gabriel after comments
After the game, Gabriel had to clarify what he said, since the NFL Twitter/X account tweeted out his answer with no initial question. He called the media the entertainers, but he does respect their job.
“All of you in this room are entertainers,” Gabriel said after the game. “And you have a job to do, and I respect it. I’m a competitor, so I have a job to do, as well. I think just understanding that, that’s how I’ve lived by it and I’ve said that multiple times. Definitely not a new quote, but something that I’ve definitely said before.”
Still, that didn’t stop Smith from going off on a tangent. He even said he wouldn’t want to unfairly criticize Gabriel as an entertainer or competitor, despite criticizing his comments.
“Jimmy Johnson said it best: he said, ‘I will be very, very consistent in treating you as inconsistently as possible. Those who produce get treated differently than those who don’t,’” Smith said. “What he said echoes the mentality of all of America, practically and most certainly the world, as we see things being globalized more and more every day. It was a stupid, idiotic, immature comment, because clearly you were feeling the heat, because a lot of people was talking about how Shedeur should be QB number two. But I know he was not talking about Shedeur Sanders, he was talking about the media.
“Here’s the problem. You now heighten the level of scrutiny coming your way because the media, including myself, heard what you said. So in other words, it’s entertainment. It’s not competition, really. So when you go out there and you compete like trash, because you will have days when you look like that, we’re going to remember those comments, and we’re going to remember the shot that you took at the fourth estate, which is the media institution, whether we like to or not, some of us will be kind, like myself, because we don’t want to do that to you, others will be merciless, but in the end, no one will be wrong, because who instigated that fury against you? It would be you. Very, very idiotic and stupid for you to say what you said.”
Category: Football