Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe engage in a heated live first-take duel about the Buffalo Bills as the 6-minute debate heats up
Studio First Take was bitterly divided after the Buffalo Bills crushed the New York Jets.
Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe were heated during a six-minute debate on the ESPN talk show, arguing with Dan Orlovsy about the condition of the two protagonists on Sunday.
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Buffalo’s 32-6 win over the Jets prompted Molly Qerim to question whether or not Sean McDermott’s team is “back on track.”
Smith’s response was emphatic: “Hell no.”
The 56-year-old further asked: “How do we even say that because they beat Zach Wilson and the Jets last night?”
Smith later noted that the Buffalo Bills “hadn’t scored 25 points in the last seven weeks,” while also calling New York’s “divinely terrible” offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
And as for Jets quarterback Zach Wilson, Smith added, “They can’t send him out of town fast enough.”
He later said, “I don’t want to hear about the Buffalo Bills. As far as I’m concerned, they had a bye week yesterday.”
“Come see me in a month when they face them [Philadelphia] Eagle, the [Kansas City] Chiefs after the bye week and the Dallas Cowboys.
“And when they do their business in games of this magnitude, we can rave about the Buffalo Bills.”
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The focus then turned to Sharpe, who was on Smith’s side the entire time.
He directed his response at Orlovsky, who he claimed made Wilson “a legitimate quarterback.”
Sharpe asked, “What happens when?” [New York’s] The defense can’t manage four turnovers?
“What happens if they don’t get scoop-and-scores or pick-sixes? What happens if they don’t block a punt and Zach Wilson punts on a short field?”
“Because I tried to tell you, and I’ll say it again, you never accept anything in a win that you wouldn’t accept in a loss. And because they won, you all accepted this sad, pathetic game from Zach Wilson.”
And while Orlovsky clearly wasn’t impressed with Wilson’s performance, he responded, “Shannon, if you take Michael Vick and put him in that offense, that offense is still going to stink on the Jets.”
Orlovsky also clarified his previous stance on Wilson, commenting, “I said they could win with him because the defense was so great.”
“We talk about the Jets like, ‘Well, if they play Tim Boyle, they’ll be better.’ No they are not.”
And as for the Bills, and particularly the performance of their quarterback Josh Allen, Orlovsky disagreed with Smith and Sharpe’s decision to “overthrow them,” adding, “They were dominant in that game.”
Whether or not the Bills are actually “back” is clearly up for debate as the Eagles face off on November 26th.
As for the Jets, head coach Robert Saleh announced Monday that Boyle will start against the Miami Dolphins on Nov. 24, with Trevor Siemian backing him up and leaving Wilson as the third pick.
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