Emmitt Smith declares he’s ‘done’ with the Cowboys

Emmitt Smith called the Cowboys’ early exit from the playoffs “borderline embarrassing”

“I’m done! I’m over the moon – past the word frustration.”

Those were the words of Dallas Cowboys icon Emmitt Smith when USA TODAY Sports’ Mackenzie Salmon asked Smith about his former team.

When reflecting on the Cowboys during the past year, Smith didn’t mask his exasperation for the team, which was bounced by the Packers in the Wild Card round.

“I’ve never been at the place that I am at right now,” said Smith. “It is borderline embarrassing.”

Within the interview, Smith also hit on numerous key Cowboys storylines including Dak Prescott. He indicated he was disappointed in his development.

The NFL’s all-time leading rusher also weighed in on the return of Mike McCarthy and the acquisition of DC Mike Zimmer.

Smith didn’t contain his enthusiasm for Zimmer, who he thinks is “going to figure out what to do with that defense, and he’s going to make that thing right.”

Check out the entire interview by clicking here.

DJ Lagway, Emmitt Smith talk Gatorade National Player of the Year award

Gators Wire spoke with the two regarding the prestigious award and what it means to be a member of the Orange and Blue.

The new face of Florida football has arrived at the Swamp and the Gator Nation cannot wait for the next era of their favorite gridiron warriors to begin.

Pro Football Hall of Famer, former Florida Gator and 1986-87 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year [autotag]Emmitt Smith[/autotag] surprised UF commit [autotag]DJ Lagway[/autotag] of Willis, Texas, with the 2023-24 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award.

Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their success on and off the field. From CEOs and coaches to star athletes, the award touts an all-star group of alumni including Peyton Manning, Nick Singleton and Jackson Arnold. 

Ahead of the big announcement, Gators Wire spoke with the two regarding the prestigious award and what it means to be a member of the Orange and Blue. Take a look below at what they had to offer.

Peyton Manning promotes Super Bowl giveaway in new Bud Light commercial

Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith star in Bud Light’s new commercial promoting their Super Bowl LVIII ticket giveaway.

Peyton Manning has announced yet another Super Bowl giveaway, this time with Bud Light, the official beer sponsor of the NFL.

After previously announcing a Super Bowl LVIII ticket giveaway with Caesars, Manning is teaming up with Bud Light for a similar campaign.

As part of their Super Bowl giveaway, Bud Light has released a new commercial featuring Manning and fellow Pro Football Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith. In the ad, Manning buys drinks for everyone in a crowded bar and then begins passing cans of Bud Light to an excited crowd.

“Experiencing the playoffs or the Super Bowl is a special moment for a fan, and I’m happy that Emmitt and I get to be part of Bud Light’s mission to host their largest ever NFL postseason ticket giveaway,” Manning said in a press release.

Here’s the extended version of the commercial:

Bud Light will air 15- and 30-second versions of the ad for the remainder of the 2023 NFL season and into the playoffs leading up to the Super Bowl.

Manning, 47, has long been a fan of Bud Light, but he did not have an endorsement deal with Anheuser-Busch during his playing days because the NFL frowns on active players endorsing alcohol (the league itself can have official alcohol sponsors, though).

Not having an official partnership did not stop Manning from plugging the product as a player, though. After a playoff win in 2014, Manning said: “What’s weighing on my mind is how soon I can get a Bud Light in my mouth.”

Two years later, after winning Super Bowl 50, Manning said “I’m going to drink a lot of Budweiser tonight” during a post-game interview. Then, during the trophy presentation, Manning said: “I’m going to drink a lot of beer tonight, Jim. Budweiser.”

Budweiser claimed that they were “surprised and delighted” that Manning mentioned them on TV, but said they did not pay him to do so.

Seven years later, Manning is no longer an active player, so the NFL can’t stop him from endorsing any particular service or product. His Bud Light endorsement is official now, and knowing Manning, that might have been his long term goal all along.

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Emmitt Smith believes the Cowboys can stack up with the Eagles

After the Cowboys’ win over the Seahawks on Thursday night, Emmitt Smith has no doubt Dallas can stack up with Philly

The storyline of the season is that Dallas has yet to beat a ‘good’ team. Yes, they did just pull off a 35-41 victory against Seattle, which was their first win against a team over .500, but is it still fair to label the Cowboys as elite?

In a recent interview with Sports Seriously, Emmitt Smith didn’t hold back when asked if he thinks the Cowboys deserve to be on the same pedestal as the Eagles and 49ers.

“I think they can be – and they have the ability to do it. They have been growing over the last four or five weeks and they’re showing signs of developing the mental toughness that’s going to be required for when we get into the playoffs… and how we finish the rest of the season is going to be a clear indication of how mentally tough and mentally sharp we really are,” Smith said.

The playoffs” two words that always bring Cowboys fans back down to earth.

Last season, the ‘Boys were 6-2 after their first eight games. In 2021, 6-2 through the first half as well. Both of those seasons ended up in embarrassing losses to the San Francisco 49ers in the early rounds of the playoffs. 

Right now, it’s looking like Dallas has the 5th seed locked up yet again, no thanks to the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite Philly being 10-1, Smith doesn’t think Dallas is too far behind.

“I think [Philly] they’re built tough inside out. They have all the pieces of the puzzle in place to be a back-to-back Super Bowl-contending team, but I think our Cowboys are coming along. I think our Cowboys are rolling right along.”

It’s hard to disagree with the numbers Prescott and the offense have put up so far this season. In Dallas’ six games before Thursday, Dak had thrown 18 touchdowns to two interceptions, completing more than 70% of his passes for a league-high 122.6 passer rating. He was even better Thursday night, throwing for 299 yards, three touchdowns and made several big plays against a Seahawks team that came to Dallas looking for an upset and just about got it.

This win will undoubtedly give the Cowboys a boost of confidence as they prepare for a huge Week 14 rematch versus the Eagles. 

When asked about Dallas’ recipe for success on how to beat Philly, Smith says it comes down to one thing— intensity.

“I think the key is matching that level of intensity for four quarters. That to me begins in practice.

We’re going up against one of the best defenses every day in practice and if we’re not matching that defensive intensity, then the defense is letting our offense down and our offense is definitely not showing up week in and week out when that intensity level rises up from an opposing team.”

Will Dallas prove Smith right and show the world that it can hang with the league’s best? We’ll find out soon.

In the meantime, you can watch the full Emmitt Smith conversation in the link above.

5 Cardinals named best to wear their uniform number in NFL history

Larry Fitzgerald headlines five former Cardinals who were the best to wear their uniform number in history

The NFL offseason brings innumerable lists and rankings. It is just what happens when there are no NFL happenings.

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar put together a list of the player in NFL history that was the best for each uniform number.

Several players who played for the Arizona or St. Louis Cardinals made the cut. Check them out below.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

Cowboys Legend Emmitt Smith still has major concerns surrounding Dallas’ offense

USA TODAY Sports sits down with Cowboys legend, Emmitt Smith, to discuss the 2023 Dallas Cowboys.

It was no surprise that Dallas went all-in on their run defense in the 2023 NFL Draft. In their last three playoff games, the Cowboys gave up a combined 554 rushing yards— abysmal. 

The addition of first-round pick Mazi Smith will undoubtedly help Dan Quinn and his squad stop the run.

But what remains uncertain is the offensive talent surrounding Dak Prescott. 

In a recent interview with Sports Seriously, Emmitt Smith voiced concern that there’s a lot to be desired on the offensive side of the ball, specifically at the TE position, after losing Dalton Schultz during free-agency. 

“We definitely need to upgrade at the tight-end position,” Smith said. 

With the departure of Schultz, it’s the beginning of a new era with two rookies, Peyton Hendershot and Jake Ferguson, taking center stage. 

Smith also believes that Dallas needs to beef up their offensive line. 

“We definitely need to bring in some guys to show our guys up front, that are very good football players, but we need to have some backup just in case somebody goes down and we don’t miss a beat because when we go up against a team like Philadelphia and they’re bringing in that defense… we have to be able to hold up against that pressure.”

The Cowboys have plenty of stars up front, but have very questionable depth. This has been made all the more clear when year after year, they get bitten by the injury bug— and truly, an area that Dallas’ front office has to fix if they want to become a true Super Bowl contender.

Additionally, Smith shared that he thinks the Cowboys should bring Zeke Elliott back.

“I believe that with the uncertainty of Pollard being able to come back and be the Tony Pollard that we all know, that is yet to be seen.

No disrespect to Malik Davis, no disrespect to Deuce Vaughn. But Deuce Vaughn, Malik Davis, and no Tony Pollard presents a major challenge for the Dallas Cowboys offense.”

It’s safe to assume that Emmitt’s concerns are shared widely amongst Cowboys nation. Now we wait, for what will most likely be another season that will leave us with even more ginormous question marks.

Watch more of Smith’s comments in the full conversation at the top of the page. 

Florida High School Football: 5 of the greatest running backs in state history

The NFL’s all-time rushing leader has come out of Florida, as has the most physically-dominant runner of our time.

Texas has a strong claim as being the best state for producing all-time great running backs. Then again, Texas also has some quality competition for that title. The NFL’s all-time rushing leader has come out of Florida, as has the most physically-dominant runner of our time.

Here are five of the greatest running backs ever to come through Florida.

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Florida reaching out more to Gator greats, Emmitt Smith opens up

He’s been invited back on campus many times, but legendary UF alum Emmitt Smith told the Pivot Podcast that this time, he was invited back in a unique way.

When having a conversation about the greatest players in Florida Gators’ football history, you won’t get too far before you mention Pro Football Hall of Fame running back [autotag]Emmitt Smith[/autotag]. Before he won the Offensive Player of the Year award, NFL MVP, three Super Bowls, a Super Bowl MVP, and was named a four-time first-team All-Pro player, the Pensacola native was tearing it up for the Orange and Blue.

In a recent appearance on the Pivot Podcast, Smith joined ESPN’s Ryan Clark and his co-hosts, former Florida Gators Channing Crowder and [autotag]Fred Taylor[/autotag], in a wide-ranging conversation. Notably, the first two minutes or so are dominated by Smith talking about how the University of Florida recently sent him a gift package that included four tickets to any home sporting event of his choice, among other things.

Once you get past the realization that three of the four members of the show are Gators, and two of the greatest running backs in Florida football history are sitting next to each other, the weight of the conversation starts to kick in. While Smith notes that it’s not the first time he’s been invited back to Gainesville, he did reveal that it is the first time they have made such an effort with the gift package. Crowder, Taylor, and Smith proceed to discuss how much effort the current regime is putting into the Gators’ storied history. Taylor even went so far as to say Smith deserves a statue outside The Swamp.

The more often a public discourse about the Gators occurs, the better. It’s even more powerful when three former Gator Greats are the ones holding up their alma mater, something head coach Billy Napier seems sware of if he’s making such an effort to bring the legends of Florida football’s past into the fold.

In his time playing for the Florida Gators, Smith broke 58 school records, scored 38 touchdowns, was named the 1989 SEC Player of the Year, finished top ten in the Heisman Trophy race, and was a three-time All-SEC pick. He was drafted in the first round of the 1990 NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys, where he spent 13 of his 15 NFL seasons. He received his degree in Health and Human Performance in 1996 and is a member of the Gator Football Ring of Honor.

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Emmitt Smith recalls facing Cowboys as opponent: ‘I broke down in tears’

The all-time rushing king recently remembered the difficult day in 2003 when he returned to Dallas wearing another team’s uniform. | From @ToddBrock24f7

There’s a wardrobe change coming for a new batch of NFL players as the annual roster churn of free agency will once again send longtime stars to new teams to either continue or close out their pro careers in unfamiliar uniforms.

It’s hit the Cowboys both coming and going over the years. It was certainly strange for die-hard fans to see the likes of onetime foes Eddie George, Randall Cunningham, and Terrell Owens don the star. It was even more painful when hometown heroes like Tony Dorsett, DeMarcus Ware, and Jason Witten sought greener pastures in colors other than silver and blue.

It creates awkward visuals and often uncomfortable feelings for everyone involved. Even the player in question can find himself in serious conflict, according to one Cowboys legend who lived it.

On a recent episode of The Pivot Podcast, Emmitt Smith shared what it was like to play briefly for the Cardinals. That, of course, came after 13 seasons with the Cowboys that saw him help build a dynasty, win three Super Bowls, become the sport’s all-time leading rusher, and cement his place as one of the franchise’s most beloved personalities.

“I gave it everything I had,” Smith said of his two-year stint with Arizona that started in 2003.

The Cardinals had just drafted wideout Anquan Boldin. Marcel Shipp, Damien Anderson, and Josh Scobey were in the team’s backfield. Adrian Wilson, Leonard Davis, and Josh McCown were there. Larry Fitzgerald would join them the next season.

They all made an impression on Smith, but it was the seasoned superstar Smith who left a bigger mark.

“What I appreciated about them,” Smith continued, “they were great teammates. They soaked it up like a sponge. They wanted to know what it was like. They’d see me show up at five o’clock in the morning to go work out. I’d been there by myself, and they come in about 6:30 or 7, like, ‘Dude, why are you here so early?’ ‘This is what I do.’ They’d see me in practice running 40, 50 yards down the field and jogging back: ‘Dude, why are you running so far?’ ‘I’m preparing myself for the game. [When] I get in the open, I want to take it to the house. This is the way we work.’ And they started doing it. And that part was awesome.”

Returning to face his old squad, however, was decidedly less so, the Hall of Famer admits.

The Cowboys hosted the Cardinals in Week 5 of Smith’s first season with Arizona. Smith would return to the very field where he broke Walter Payton’s all-time rushing record, less than 12 months after the fact.

Even almost 30 years later, Smith’s voice took on a very different tone as he told the story to podcast hosts Channing Crowder, Ryan Clark, and Fred Taylor.

“We rode down on that bus,” Smith, now 52, recalled. “First time I went into Texas Stadium in a bus. On a visiting bus. Got off the bus, walked into the visitors locker room, saw my Cardinals uniform. And I looked around. I felt out of place. For the first time ever, felt out of place. I sat down at my locker, looked at that uniform again. I stood up, and I’d come to realize. I said this out loud: ‘I’m not supposed to be here. This is not my room.’ I broke down in tears and cried for 45 minutes before we played that game. I mean, boo-hooed. Cried like a sobbing baby. And my teammates didn’t know what to do. I had to get myself together and go on a football field and play a game.”

Whether it was Smith’s emotions or a fired-up Cowboys defense or a combination of the two, Smith’s homecoming did not last long. Smith was swarmed early and often by Dallas defenders- led by La’Roi Glover, Dat Nguyen, Ebenezer Ekuban, and Dexter Coakley.

Smith had minus-one yard on six carries, leaving the game early in the second quarter after suffering a sprained shoulder on a big hit from a certain ascending Cowboys safety.

“Roy Williams knocked the living crap out of me; I’m going to slap him the next time I see him,” Smith remembered with a laugh.

The Cardinals lost 24-7 that day. For Smith, it marked the first time in his illustrious NFL career that he ended a game with negative yardage. Smith would go on to play 20 more games wearing Cardinal red, despite it never feeling quite right.

“We go through stuff,” he explained. “And I went through a heartbreaking moment, knowing that this is not where I’m supposed to be. This is not where God placed me. This is not what he wanted for me. He wanted me to be with the ‘Boys and do what I do with the ‘Boys. But he also had a different plan, and I had to accept that plan. That plan was to transition out and help others as I leave the game and leave them with something that they can go with.”

The lessons Smith helped impart did stick with his Cardinals teammates, even after he went unsigned by the club following the 2004 season.

Five years later, Arizona made it to their only Super Bowl. Many of the young Cardinals players that Smith had mentored in 2002 and 2003 credited him with helping them get there.

Smith eventually signed a one-day contract with the Cowboys before announcing his retirement from the game, but there was nothing quite like seeing Smith at Texas Stadium that one time in enemy colors.

“Having that moment gave me a chance to have closure,” he said.

With free agency about to kick off once again, that moment will come for a new group of players this season.

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