Steve Smith was knocked out of Thursday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers after getting a helmet in the back from linebacker Lawrence Timmons in the fourth quarter.
However, it seems that Smith is taking offense to a play much earlier in the game that involved former teammate Mike Mitchell.
According to CSNMidAtlantic.com, Smith was angry over a hit delivered by Mitchell, who was a teammate of Smith’s with the Carolina Panthers.
“For the first time in my career, I feel like I’m 36,” Smith said. “I got speared in the back by an ex-teammate and I kind of know his character and who he is.
“After he hit me, he said, ‘How do you like that?’ So, I mean, the best thing I can do without threatening him and saying that I will assault him when I see him is I will say I look forward to playing him again and he’s on my lifetime hit list.”
Except Smith wasn’t speared in the back by Mitchell on the play that knocked Smith from the game. That was Timmons.
Mitchell tackled Smith once in the game. It came on a wide receiver screen in the first quarter where Mitchell hit Smith from behind and took him to the ground. Smith grabbed a hold of Mitchell’s shoulder pads and wouldn’t let Mitchell get back to his feet after the play and was shouting in his face the whole time.
Smith has always played with about as massive a chip on his shoulder as one can possibly have. It’s one reason why he’s managed to be so successful for so long despite his size limitations. However, it seems Smith is going a little overboard here. Mitchell tackled him. Plain and simple, which is kind of his job considering the two don’t wear the same uniform anymore. It wasn’t vicious or dirty or anything of the sort.
So Smith is angry at his old teammate for tackling him. If that’s the standard, it’s no wonder Smith has a chip on his shoulder all the time. Or it’s possible he believes it was Mitchell, and not Timmons, that hit him in the fourth quarter as well.
Either way, it should only make the rematch between the two teams in December more interesting.
