The Jacksonville Jaguars are earning a lot of believers with their play so far in 2022. Stephen A. Smith of ESPN is apparently not one of them.
On Friday, Smith was joined on ESPN’s First Take by the hosts of the “Pivot” podcast, including Jaguars legend Fred Taylor. When asked which NFL team in Florida will go the furthest this season, Smith said the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While he was willing to give the Jaguars a little bit of love (a very little bit), Smith said choosing Tom Brady was a no-brainer.
“I love the fact that Doug Pederson is Jacksonville’s new coach,” Smith said. “And they’re not sorry anymore. Give ’em a cookie. … I got Trevor Lawrence in his second year, I got Teddy Bridgewater, or I got Tom Brady. Who you think I’m rolling with? With Mike Evans, [Chris] Godwin back. I mean come on, let’s stop the nonsense.”
Taylor countered by telling Smith that the Buccaneers are “a lineman away from ending Tom [Brady]’s career.”
“And y’all are about five players away from being relevant,” was Smith’s retort about the Jaguars.
Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl two years ago and finished last season with an NFL-best 13-4 regular season record. After winning their first two games of 2022, the Buccaneers lost back-to-back games in the last two weeks.