← The Stephen A. Smith Show
The Stephen A. Smith Show
Interview Only: Stephen A's NFL and CFP Recap with Hall of Famer Cris Carter
00:24:15
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- [00:00]
Greg Rosenthal
What's up, everyone? It's Greg Rosenthal, and I'm teaming up with the king of spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL draft season. From DJs, mock drafts to my top 101, free agents will have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday, keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:31]
Julie Swerbinks
What's up, everyone? Julie Swerbinks here along with former NHL player Nate Thompson.
- [00:36]
Chris Carter
We're doing a new podcast together. Here we go.
- [00:38]
Julie Swerbinks
The name Energy Line with Nate and jsb.
- [00:42]
Chris Carter
Each week we'll get together and talk about hockey life. All topics are fair game, right?
- [00:47]
Julie Swerbinks
Exactly. And you'll never know who will drop by to join us.
- [00:51]
Chris Carter
Julia's pretty well connected. She has text threads going that you wouldn't believe.
- [00:55]
Julie Swerbinks
Listen to Energy Line with Nate and JSB on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Time to get to the end of the NFL regular season, as promised, it concluded last night with the Detroit Lions beating down the Minnesota Vikings. Okay, so who better to have as my next guest in the aftermath of that than the man I have on with me right now. All worldwide receiver, hall of Famer. All he did was catch touchdowns. The one and only Chris Carter is here with me right now. What's up, bro? Are you okay? You know, let's. Let's ignore football first. Let's ignore football first. I want to know if my brother is all right. Usually he got the purple pom poms, you know, he got the purple in the background. Got purple mugs. Got purple.
- [01:46]
Chris Carter
Yep.
- [01:46]
Julie Swerbinks
Got purple outfits. All of this other stuff, I want to know, is Chris Carter okay after that ass kicking? The Minnesota Vikings took on Sunday night to a Detroit Lions team that had 13 dudes on defense on an injured reserve. How's Chris Carter doing?
- [02:05]
Chris Carter
I'm doing good, but we got whoop last night. I mean, that was disappointing. And the. The most disappointing part about it was the first half because we had the game to take control. Sports is about momentum. And when you force their quarterback golf into a couple turnovers, when you have a short field, when you're in the red zone four times, you're only getting six, nine points, you're not going to be able to beat Detroit played the most consistent football throughout the season. So in this nine game winning streak, this was not the game that they needed to see on Sunday night to be able to finish the season. But you can't take away what the team has done this year. Detroit had a great game plan. Aaron Glenn choosing to play a lot of man to man cover zero and attack the Vikings wide receivers. That to me was one of the biggest storylines, if not the biggest storyline of the game.
- [02:56]
Julie Swerbinks
Yeah, I'm just saying, you know what to me, listen, listen. They blitzed Sam Donald, you know, more than 67% of the time. It was the second most this season that any team has done in the National Football League. They had, you know, they had him, I think it was about 67. Either that or they had him in single coverage. They had a man coverage that amount of time, which basically means that's something you don't normally see if you're Justin Jefferson and you Addison. But nevertheless they clearly felt that if you put pressure on Sam Donald, we gonna see the Sam Donald we've been seeing for the first the last six years or so, not the one we've been seeing for this entire season. So now that you saw what you saw, Chris Carter, how you feeling about Sam Darnold going into the playoffs?
- [03:34]
Chris Carter
I still feel good about Sam Darnold. You know the reason why? Because I'm a fair journalist. I'm not going to keep moving the goal post, I'm not going to keep moving the inline marker because what Sam Darnold has done, taking over for a first round Jaffic and JJ McCarthy and stepping in this offense, resurrecting his whole career, they didn't lose that game last night because of Sam Darnold. Now and if this was the old Sam, man, they would have scored 50 points, he would have thrown two or three picks. Now were they out of sync? Did they rush up his mechanics? Yes, but that's other people. It's a team sport. He didn't play the best game that he's played in the last 10 games. But the Vikings didn't lose because of Sam Darnold. They've had a great season and I guarantee you if Lamar had lost and their team had 14 and two and they lost to Detroit and Detroit, we wouldn't be talking about Lamar. Of course he's got a better track record, Josh Allen, but all these.
- [04:31]
Julie Swerbinks
That's right.
- [04:33]
Chris Carter
Sam Darnold has matched these guys for the season. Now if we want to keep going back to viewing in his past, then we can keep doing that. But Sam Darnold has changed the, the commentary on his whole career and last night was not an indictment on his ability. He is still going to be someone starting quarterback next season if it's not the Vikings, which I do believe the Vikings are going to franchise him. I talked to, you know, a couple of people and I do believe that.
- [05:02]
Julie Swerbinks
Well, they should. I mean, it's a one, it's a one year, it's a one year, 10 million dollar deal he's playing under now. You're damn right to franchise him. You don't want to just place all your faith in rookie JJ McCarthy ain't playing NF because he got injured before the season started. But let me ask you this last question on the Vikings. So how do you feel? How do you feel, Cece, when you had the number one pick, the number one slot rather in your grasp, you would have been a number one seed had you won and the road to the super bowl would have had to go through Minnesota. Now because you lost, the road to the super bowl is going to have to go through Detroit. You got to start out at a wild card and despite having a better record, you got to start out on the road in Los Angeles against the Rams next Monday night. How are you feeling about that, Chris Carter?
- [05:48]
Chris Carter
It's the worst possible scenario. We had the home field advantage. If you look at the players, the players do a survey. Minnesota is one of the top three or four places, the hardest places to play, Kansas City, Seattle, Denver, Philadelphia, Minnesota is always up there. So you got two games to go to the Super Bowl. We haven't had number one seed since 1998. The 151 team with Moss, myself, Jake Reed, Randall Cunningham. So this was, man, this was, this was precious, precious, precious cargo. And we fumbled it, man, like we didn't handle it the right way. Now we're going to it.
- [06:25]
Julie Swerbinks
Is that your way of saying that you no longer think that the Minnesota Vikings going to Super Bowl, Chris Carter? That's what I'm asking. That's why I'm asking.
- [06:31]
Chris Carter
No, no, they still have a chance. They still have a chance. But trust me, the other teams don't want to see Minnesota coming to playing like Minnesota is not a team. Everybody bite. Oh, yes. Oh, let's just play Minnesota, man. That'll get us an easy win.
- [06:44]
Julie Swerbinks
But I tell you this much, I tell you this much, Chris Carter. I don't think the Detroit Lions got a problem seeing them. I don't think they got a problem seeing them at all.
- [06:52]
Chris Carter
Well, I don't think Detroit, they got a Problem seeing anybody. What happened to them last year? Last year they started off the season beating Kansas City. They finished the season losing in San Francisco, a game that they outplayed the San Francisco 49ers. So they have been on a mission all year. Respect to Detroit, respect of what they've done, respect to the defensive coordinator, the adjustment, respect to Ben Johnson, the offensive scheme that he that I believe is the most difficult to guard weekend and week out as offensive coordinator for Detroit. No man, respect Detroit man. Respect for what they doing.
- [07:24]
Julie Swerbinks
By the way, before I move on real, real quick, what the hell did Aaron Glenn do defensively to neutralize Minnesota's offense and hold him to nine points and not a single touchdown?
- [07:34]
Chris Carter
Well, for one he changed up what they were doing in the last three games, week 14 to 17 they were giving up 32 points a game. He he, you talked about playing manto man in blitzing but he played zero coverage where he took the safety out of the middle I think 12 to 13 times. That's not something the Vikings see a lot of because they have such skill at the position wide receiver, running back and at tight end. So that threw them off. They made, they got in Sam Darnold State even when they couldn't sack him, they got in his face to make his throws a little bit higher. And when they needed to guard Justin Jefferson one on one, I gotta tell you, they did a hell of a job against jj. That's not something that we normally see.
- [08:19]
Julie Swerbinks
Let me transition real quick. Your thoughts about the Philadelphia Eagles not letting Saquon Barkley go for the all time single season rushing record eclipse in Eric Dickerson and instead letting him sit out to make sure he's preserved ready to go come playoffs.
- [08:33]
Chris Carter
The reason because even if he breaks the record, if they don't reach their goal as a team, as an organization, because that's what they brought him there. They brought him there to win a Super Bowl. And by the way, if you can break, you know, Eric Dickerson's Ed's rushing record then then that'll be just extra. But you can't jeopardize the whole team goals for one individual. And I'm a wide receiver, I'm as selfish as they come. But when it comes down to one game, well, you should have got it in 16 games. If that's the case or if you would have had been in the better position where you had the number one seed, then we might play you in the first half because you got a bye week. But when you know you're Playing the following week. And it's going to be a headbanger three weeks in a row to be able to get to the super bowl again. No, you have to sit here because the team's goals and the team's aspiration in a team sport is the number one priority is keeping the main thing. The main thing.
- [09:28]
Julie Swerbinks
I feel you on that and I don't disagree. But I still can say I agree. But I hate it because the running back position is so devalued. You got guys that miss out on money and long term contract just because of their birth certificate. You don't even pay attention to their production. You say hey they 30, their time is up, we don't need them. So I hate that, but I understand it.
- [09:47]
Chris Carter
And a little sidebar. It would have been nice to see him do it against the Giants.
- [09:51]
Julie Swerbinks
That's right, because we know how they treated him. And oh, by the way, I'm glad I remember that. I, I almost forgot to ask you, what the hell is up with the Giants? I have no problem with Dable because they proved to me that he could coach. Give him something to work with and he can coach. But that damn GM who was so smug on Hard Knocks and letting Saquon Barkley go and investing in Daniel Jones, the Giants electing to keep both of them in place for next season. I, I, I never thought that I'd look at the Giants organization and see them as being this bad. I never thought so. I never thought so.
- [10:24]
Chris Carter
No, it's not something you think about. They are one of the patriarch franchises that we have. But you lose your way tomorrow. Family. They've lost their way. Their selection of players, their management of players, the players they draft, second and third contracts, they had mismanaged that. And to me the question is what are they going to do at quarterback? Because the Giants in the Mara family, they're not known to to have an African American at quarterback. And the best two quarterbacks are African Americans. So what they gonna do now? That's what I'm interested. I don't care who the coach is. I want to see what they do at quarterback. Because their history and history tells you. How do I know what they're going to do in the future, what they've done in the past? I want to see what they're going to do with quarterback. We should start conversating about that.
- [11:10]
Julie Swerbinks
Yeah, they got the third pick. New England messed up because you know what? You fired Gerard Mayo after one year and what have you. But what the hell was he doing? Winning that game yesterday, they went from having the number one overall pick to drop into the number four overall pick. You got some people in New England feeling like he should be fired for that alone. Your thoughts about that real quick, man.
- [11:30]
Chris Carter
You shouldn't be at the end. It's over with. The only way you can help the team is by continuing what you already did. You can't be trying to be a hero and win the last game. You got a chance to change the franchise and run stroke and he had to know there was bad vibes in the building. I believe that he knew he was going to be out of there and he went on and inspired the guys they end up winning in spite to stick at the craft. That's what I believe happened.
- [11:54]
Julie Swerbinks
Yeah, I never thought about it that way because Kraft supposedly loved the guy, gave him a shot, you know, but. But they clearly want Mike Vrabel. That's who they wanted all along. And the opportunity that get him, him being out there, I think that's what they see right now. Let me move on to the Pittsburgh Steelers because the Baltimore Ravens are the AFC north champions. The Pittsburgh Steelers have lost four straight. Mike Tomlin looks on the verge of having another playoff loss because they play Saturday night and nobody's going to pick them to beat the Ravens. That would be yet another year. It would be since 2016 that Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers have not won a playoff game. Your thoughts about what you've seen from the Steelers.
- [12:37]
Chris Carter
There is one way to correct the Steelers problems and is they need a better quarterback receiver room. They need better guys. They need better people. They need a coach that will take control of that wide receiver room because they have had problems with that room. Even when AB Was there, they had problems with that room. And that is continued after he's left. Pickens is an issue. He is not playing up to his ability. His ability. I'm not saying they're coddling him, but I'm saying they're doing things that are making him not necessarily develop as fast as he should develop. They should have had another veteran.
- [13:21]
Julie Swerbinks
What about the quarterback?
- [13:23]
Chris Carter
No, no, no.
- [13:24]
Julie Swerbinks
What about the quarterback? I imagine receivers would be happy if they had a better quarterback throwing them the football.
- [13:31]
Chris Carter
Stephen A. This is not something I'm guessing about. Okay? I know Mike Thomas. I've had conversations with Mike Thomas over the last year and a half. That room is a problem. And then we just start hearing about the interviews and stuff the last couple weeks. So Pittsburgh does a lot of things well, but now they cannot overcome because they can run the football, they got a strong defense. Mike. Mike's leadership is at is one of the best in the league. But you can't overcome a bad wide receiver room when you have a quarterback especially. That's temperamental. And their relationship can be fractured fairly easy. Russell had issues when he was in Denver. Russell had issues when he was in Seattle. Now, with a weak wide receiver room, you think there are not going to be some issues in Pittsburgh? Obviously there are. Just listen to him.
- [14:21]
Julie Swerbinks
Tyreek Hill. He's made some noise to. This is the guy that departed from Kansas City, went and got the bag in Miami, swore up and down that tour was going to be just as good as Patrick Mahomes. And now here he is. Look at this quote. There's a lot of things that I need to reassess about my career. This is the first time I haven't been to the playoffs. I mean, I just got to do what's best for me and my family that's here or wherever the case it may be. I'm opening the door. I'm out, bro. It was great playing here, but at the end of the day, I have to do what's best for my career. All right. This is Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel. He says, I was informed that he was unavailable right before a drive. I was not informed that it was a new injury. There were guys on the field that were competing. We were trying to win a game. So my focus was there. We will see how the next couple days progress in convos with him and I. Here's what. There's two things going on here. CC Number one, you Tyree kill, you depart. You go get the bag in Miami, you swap and down that. That the tua tongue of a love was going to be as good as Patrick Mahomes. Very stupid thing to say. Kansas City has won two championships without Tyreek Hill ever since. He hasn't won a playoff game. He hasn't. You know, he hasn't really done that. Secondly, you see the. The Twitter handle right there? He superimposes his face on Antonio Brown's body. So clearly he's telling you that's where his head is at. Number three. He ended up pulling a something like that dude Campbell for San Francisco did a month ago or so when he walked off the field, didn't want to play for the team, didn't want to enter the game in the third quarter. Tyreek Hill essentially did that. The only difference is he stayed on the bench. He didn't go inside the Locker room. This is egregious stuff. What do you make of it?
- [16:03]
Chris Carter
Well, I'm not going to correct you, but I'm just going to. But let you know, as far as what happens on the side, not Tyreek Hill, you and I, we got places here in Florida. I go to a lot of Dolphins games. I follow the Dolphins. So he's had a knee problem that he hadn't complained about all year. And when you go to a Dolphins game after he makes a big catch or something, typically he comes out of the game. Now, I've watched him every year in Miami. No year has he been banged up as much as he has been. What typically happens in a situation like this? They're scoreboard watching. They're watching the Denver Kansas City game. The Denver Kansas City game starts to go sideways. Oh, man, we ain't got a chance. Guess what I'm not really getting ready to do. I'm not getting ready to get hurt out here playing for nothing, all right? I've been putting myself in harm's way all season. I'm not. I'm getting ready to check out and my teammates.
- [16:58]
Julie Swerbinks
Well, then why just say that? Why not just say that? He didn't say that, Cece. Why not just say that?
- [17:05]
Chris Carter
Because I don't believe he's as good with the media as I am. He's very, very young, very, very emotional. He's got a lot of other stuff going on that he didn't realize. The long play, because that's a professional decision right there, that people understand. Your teammates and stuff, understand how much you've been sacrificing. And that ho look like ab, man. You know, I. I take exception to that because to me, you know, I don't know where AV Is as far as his mental health, to be able to mock it, to be able to try to put yourself in the same light. And then also, I see them five kids, and I hear that you got more than five kids. I see five kids in the picture on your headshot and everything. This should be about them, man. Like, they're gonna always be able to go back. Go back and Google today and what their dad was doing. So be careful what you put out there, man. A lot of this stuff is permanent, and it's not about you. So he still got plenty good years of football left in him. He's a very, very explosive player. But I don't know why certain wide receivers, towards the end of their career, they decide to blow up places as they decide to transition to a new home, going To a new home. There's nothing wrong with that. And. But there's a way to do it. There's a way to handle your business and handle your affairs, and he's not handling that the right way.
- [18:20]
Julie Swerbinks
Two quick questions before I let you get on out here. Out of here. Is McCarthy gone in Dallas? Should he be gone?
- [18:27]
Chris Carter
Well, I don't think Jerry Jones has a better option, and that's why he let the contract play out. I do believe that he has flirted around with Dion, and I do believe that he entertained maybe some other ideas, but he believes, probably long term, I'm probably better off sticking with the guy that I have because I can keep running the Cowboys the way that I want to, which is the most important thing. It's not who's the head coach, it's how do I run this football team the way I want to do it. And I have someone that agrees to that right now. And, I mean, how many more contract coaches contracts? Jerry think he got left in him? I mean, it was a few years ago. He went to see the plastic surgeon and everything. Like, you can't go see nobody else. Ain't no blood transfusion. Ain't no, hey, man, you getting old, dog. These decisions become somewhat permanent.
- [19:18]
Julie Swerbinks
Oh, my God.
- [19:20]
Chris Carter
And I know, like you, this man wants to win. He is about winning. And he gonna try to do everything that he can to do, but this knot that he tied is gonna be hard to impossible to untie. I believe there are two bowl.
- [19:34]
Julie Swerbinks
But he wants to win. But he wants to win his way. He wants to win his way. And listen, he ain't trying to leave. He ain't trying to defer to anybody else. He wants to do the work because I think he's afraid the minute he steps away, he's just going to lay down and die. And he doesn't want to do that. And. And. And that's really what it is about Jerry Jones. But anyway, last question to you. I'd be remiss in not bringing up the Ohio State in college football. Now, I want to say this because, you know, I took a lot of heat. You had people. Because Kirk, Herb street came at me in a. You know. You know, he came. But I didn't take it personal or anything like that, the way Shannon, my man Shannon Sharp did. But Kirk Herbstreet and Chris Fowler came at us because we talked about how, you know, Ryan Day, you know, what his job could be in jeopardy, and people thought that was ridiculous. And I'm like, even after he blew out Tennessee. I said, I don't want to hear that shit. I meant what I said. What I said was going into the playoffs, having lost four straight games to Michigan, if this man were to lose to Tennessee, he got to go. And then I love seeing you on the sideline for the blowout victory over Oregon. You all right in Pasadena. I said, my man. I said, my man. Cece was on the air talking about the same damn thing, and he right there on the sideline. He ain't backing up. Yeah, you better be here. That's what I'm saying. So I want to know your thoughts about what you've seen from Ohio State. How surprised are you, if not at all? And what does this say about Ryan Day that he's been able to win both of these playoff games in such a lopsided fashion?
- [21:11]
Chris Carter
No, I'm very, very fortunate to be able to get inside the program when they were at the Rose Bowl. And that's be around the kids, listen to Ryan Day, listen to what they're saying before the game, whether Justin is at halftime. And I'm gonna tell you, I like what Ryan Day has done. I don't like the fact that we've lost a number of games to Michigan, and I don't like the style for which we lost, you know, two years being totally out physical and then this year being idiots for not throwing the ball to our explosive players. No, I don't like that. But when I look at the overall state of the program, what kind of kids we have, how they play, how they represent the Buckeyes, I'm pleased with Ryan Day. The only thing that's going to be able to overcome people talking about Michigan is for this team to reach his potential. That's what they are doing now. They are playing the style of football, and everybody talks about the 20 million nil. They're third or fourth in college football. Oregon has 23 million nil for their football team. Texas has 22 and a half million for. For their football team. You know, so people act as if Ohio State got 20 million. Everybody else got 5 million. No other teams have outspent them. This team has the potential to be the only team in Ohio State history that wins a national championship without being Michigan. We've won eight national championships in all those seasons we beat Michigan. So he. He does have the program in the right state where it needs to be. Are we upset about the Michigan? Of course. And we should be. And we should be able to speak our mind about our head coach. If you don't Beat Michigan, you are going to have a problem with a certain amount of Buckeye thing and that's the way it should always be. This is a prime time job. But he is built for. I do believe that he can take this to an all time high as far as a program because they're going to be sacked for the next three to five years.
- [23:14]
Julie Swerbinks
Here's, here's my deal, Chris, and I'll let it. I'll. I'll end it by saying this. I certainly wouldn't advocate for him being gone now because he's in the final four. He's in position. You win two more games, you're the national champion. Ain't nothing but respect for that. But I stand by the position that I took initially. After you lost to Michigan for the fourth straight time. If you had ended up losing that first game of the playoffs to Tennessee, well, damn it, it's the Ohio State. If you can't handle the responsibility that come along with this, somebody else needs to. And it's just that simple. It's just that he has stepped up and he has handled it, especially blowing out the number one team in the nation, Oregon. So I'm going to give him his respect and his flowers. He deserves it now, but three weeks ago. I'll be damned if he deserved it, bro.
- [23:59]
Chris Carter
We have to realize he is still a young coach, man. Like he is still growing as a coach. Like he is still getting better as a football coach. Like the landscape of college football last six years, man, since he's been around, it's changed every other year. So there is something called professional development. And I do believe I would not take another coach over any coach than rehabbing Ryan Day at Ohio State. I don't, I wouldn't take Sark, I wouldn't take Kirby Smart. And listen, all these other coaches dabble. Dabo went through this Ryan Day period before he got the national championship at Clemson. Kirby Smart, remember, remember he couldn't win the big game at Georgia before he got a couple of championships. So this is the precursor for Ryan Day getting his reputation, getting the Buckeyes back on the national stage, winning their ninth national championship. The only time they're going to be able to do it without defeating the team up north. And he has the program exactly where we want the program to be.
- [25:01]
Julie Swerbinks
Chris Carter, always love talking to you, my man. I look forward to talking to you next week after we watch some of these playoff games, man. You take it easy. I'll holler at you then.
- [25:07]
Chris Carter
All right. Appreciate it though.
- [25:09]
Julie Swerbinks
Peace of love, no doubt.
- [25:15]
Chris Carter
Foreign.
- [25:18]
Greg Rosenthal
What'S up everyone? It's Greg Rosenthal and I'm teaming up with the King of Spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL draft season. From DJs mock drafts to my top 101, free agents will have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [25:49]
Julie Swerbinks
What's up everyone? Julie Swearbinks here along with former NHL player Nate Thompson.
- [25:53]
Chris Carter
We're doing a new podcast together. Here we go.
- [25:56]
Julie Swerbinks
The name Energy Line with Nate and jsb.
- [25:59]
Chris Carter
Each week we'll get together and talk about hockey life. All topics are fair game, right?
- [26:05]
Julie Swerbinks
Exactly. And you'll never know who will drop by to join us.
- [26:08]
Chris Carter
Julie is pretty well connected. She has text threads going that you wouldn't believe.
- [26:13]
Julie Swerbinks
Listen to Energy Line with Nate and jsb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.