Be Like Tike

Thursday, December 6th, 2007 by Adam Wagner

Anthony Smith needs to shut up

Anthony Smith decided to stir the pot a little bit on Wednesday, guaranteeing a Steelers’ victory over the New England Patriots. The only problems are that Smith is in his second season of professional football and that Bill Belichick is a master of motivation.

Smith is a second-year player in his first season as a full-time starter, a position that he only has because Ryan Clark is out for the rest of the year. He will play at free safety on Sunday if Troy Polamalu plays, but could play at strong safety if Polamalu is not ready. Smith entered the league with a reputation as a hard hitter and has done nothing to eliminate that reputation. The other part of his reputation was that Smith was a smart play. He has damaged this part of his reputation by doing some very idiotic stuff on the field, over-hitting and taking risks that are unnecessary. His cockiness has not slipped by announcers, who have taken to pointing out these mistakes when they occur.

Steelers’ fans are beginning to view Smith as a liability, as he seems to be out for himself and not the team, both on the field and, now, off. These comments show a bravado that is not necessary from an NFL player, particularly one that is not even known amongst his associates. Patriots’ DE Ty Warren claimed to not know who Smith was, showing just how well Smith has represented himself on the field to this point.

To show just how idiotic the comments were, Smith did not take into account that the Patriots are a team known for taking what may not even be a sleight and using it to motivate themselves. They are still riding off of the Spygate situation from earlier this season, while most other teams would choose to put the situation behind them.

Smith’s teammates apparently realize this, as James Farrior made a point of immediately denouncing the importance of Smith’s comments. Farrior, unlike Smith, is well-known and respected around the league. He is also intelligent enough to not say anything inflammatory about an undefeated team and to rip his teammate who just made inflammatory comments about an undefeated team, saying, “He needs to keep his mouth shut. … He’s a guy who hasn’t been around the league too long so I don’t even know if he’s even qualified to say something like that.”