Stephen A. Smith, Ryan Clark & Dan Orlovsky HAVE A MESSAGE for Jalen Carter | First Take

Stephen A. Smith, Ryan Clark & Dan Orlovsky HAVE A MESSAGE for Jalen Carter | First Take

Good morning everybody. I’m Molly Karen. Welcome into First Take. That is Stephen A. Smith, Dannowski, Ryan Clark, and gentlemen. Are we talking about actual NFL action this morning? Thank God. Not Michael Parson’s contract. We’re talking about a game that we had. We’re probably talking about that contract. Not a contract. Praise the Lie. Yes, we certainly are. But we’re actually not going to talk about the game. We’re going to talk about what happened before the first snap. What? What do you mean? You just said we talked about game. We’re not going to talk about game. Like, we got to get into it. That’s a story. Eagles stand out defensive tackle Jaylen Carter was ejected from Thursday night’s 24-20 win against the Cowboys before the first play from scrimmage. Carter and Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott got face to face. Carter spit on Prescott as the two began to separate both Dak and Carter on what went down postgame. You know, it was a mistake that happened on my side my side just won’t happen again. Just not being able to finish and start the game even finish the game, you know, just me up. going to get better when I happen again. I was just looking at him. Um I was right here by the two linemen. Um and guess I needed to spit and I wasn’t going to spin on my lineman and I just spit ahead and he asked where he goes, “You trying to spin on me?” And at that point, I mean, I felt like he was insulting me. Like I I don’t I wouldn’t spit on somebody. I’m damn sure not trying to spit on you. Like we’re about to play a game. Ultimate sign of disrespect. Carter’s ejection was the fastest by a player in NFL game since 2005 when the Eagles Jeremiah Troder and Falcons Kevin Matthysse were ejected for fighting prior to kickoff. Stephen A coming to you here first. Your reaction to what went down in Carter’s ejection? Utterly disgusted. Utterly disgusted. It’s inexcusable. And you know you you Jaylen Carter, first of all, he should have been ejected. Secondly, I think he should be suspended for at least one game. You don’t spit on anybody. You don’t spit on a man. That’s number one. number two or a woman. Of course, of course. But I’m just talking about football players on the field, obviously. Um, obviously then you think about it. Who’s the most protected football player on the field? It’s the quarterback. You spit on Dak Prescott. You don’t think somebody’s going to see that? Just the dumbest possible thing. And if you’re Jaylen Carter, I want to look in the camera. I want one of my ISO shot. Let me be Stephen A here. Let me let me let me say this to to Jaylen Carter. Remember that car crash incident that you got into in in 2020 20 in in 2023 that ultimately led to you falling to the ninth pick in the NFL draft when you were projected at the number one overall pick. Nobody thought about that until last night because you fell because of your off field behavior. People didn’t trust you. Now you come on the field and you conduct yourself like that and you listen to radio driving in and what are people talking about? Well, this was a problem and you know obviously that this is an onfield incident. This has nothing to do with the car crash that that that happened in 2023. I’m just using it to remind these guys what you do and how you act stays with you. I don’t want to be up here talking about this this morning. I don’t want this kid’s career compromised. I don’t want his reputation tainted. I don’t want him smeared. But when you spit on a man, when you spit on him on the football field, when you spit on a quarterback and you get yourself ejected before the game, Dak Prescott wasn’t sacked once last night. We didn’t anticipate that was going to happen, but it happened because you were out there. You weren’t out there. And the Philadelphia Eagles had to adjust to life without their best defensive player. You thought about yourself. You didn’t think about your teammates at all. It was stupid. You walked off the field with a smile on your face. What the hell is smiling about? I What the hell was there to smile about? It was stupid. It was immature. And as far as I’m concerned, not only does he deserve a rejection, he deserves a suspension because of that because you got to send a message of you the league. We ain’t tolerating this kind of nonsense. Yeah, I completely agree. It’s inexcusable and it’s inexcusable. inexcusable in so many different ways and the ones that Stephen A pointed out, but it’s also inexcusable. You let your team down. It’s inexcusable. You you let your your organization down, you let your fan base down, you let your teammates down. And so, somebody has to get into the ear of Jaylen Carter and just get him to truly understand the big deal. One, you’re playing for about 180 to $200 million. If Jaylen Carter goes and has the year this year like he did last year, he’ll top Micah Parson’s contract more than likely. So just getting him to understand how important everything that he does this year and RC knows this. We often hear or have heard the importance of a player like Nico Dean when it comes to Jaylen Carter and everybody at Georgia would intimate it and then people even in Philadelphia would intimate. Nico Dean would just get him to understand how he acted impacted the perception, the leadership that he would display, how he would get him to to focus on the job and make sure that he wasn’t off the field distracted and making Nico Dean wasn’t there because of the injury. And so I just I think it’s paramount. I agree that there’s going to be more than likely a suspension. I think there should be, but just people in that locker room really using this as an example of Jaylen. No, like Jaylen, you you’re too important of a player and also you have too big of a future and the the the generational wealth impact that he can have if he’s not making those ridiculous decisions. Mistake when you spit on a human, right? What you’re telling another human when you spit on them is you’re not worth my discretion. You’re not worth my respect. You’re not worth my compassion. Like that’s that is saying to someone else, you’re the lowest of the low, right? When when I’m walking outside, I don’t spit on the ground, right? Because I have a level of respect for the people around me. So to look at a man in his face and do that, it’s not only disgusting, right? But it’s a level of stupidity that can’t even be fathom because here you are one of the best players in the entire league. It’s the first game of the season. You’re the defending Super Bowl champs. are standing across from not only America’s team, but America’s quarterback in the sense that Dak Prescott is the highest paid player in NFL history. The entire world is watching this game. And the reason they’re watching this game is because they’ve all been told on First Take and on Get Up and on NFL Live that the defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles is going to wreck this game. Instead, the Dallas Cowboys changed their entire playbook, their entire idea and game plan of what they were going to do because you were too stupid to control yourself. And it’s not a situation where Dak Prescott did anything to you. This was you not respecting yourself, not respecting your teammates enough to make good decisions. And I don’t know what the NFL does going forward, but an example does need to be made. And if you’re jailing Carter and what Stephen A is saying is correct in this sense, the way you present as a human gets you paid just as much as what the film says. And Jaylen Carter has to be somebody that can be relied upon, that can be responsible, and now going forward has to be accountable. We’re going to leave it there. It’s not a mistake. It’s a decision. So well said, guys. The Cowboys may have let one slip last night, though. Uh, Pro Bowl wide receiver Cidi Lamb had three drops, including two in the fourth quarter that prevented the Cowboys from pulling off the upset. Let’s hear from Lamb shouldering the blame. Man, that’s terrible. Uh, honestly, I feel like the I mean, I can’t point no fingers at nobody else. You know what I’m saying? And, um, I take full accountability and everything else that come with it because I mean, as for me as a player, I pray for moments like that, you know what I’m saying? In the bar to come my way and obviously for me to not come up with it, bro, that stings a little bit. wasn’t just those plays. There’s throws out there that I want back. Um, but it’s game one and he’s a guy that makes those plays. Um, he’s going to make those plays. I’m not going to get down on them. Not going to lose confidence by any means. Obviously, RC Lamb taking full accountability there. He said he prayed for moments like this, wanting those big time moments and Dak protecting his guy. How much of the blame does he get for the loss? It’s a lot of the blame. And what I love about CD Lamb is the accountability. I love CD Lamb saying that I can’t put this on anybody else in this locker room. I can’t point any fingers but the ones that should be pointed at me. CD Lamb had seven drops the entire season last season. He has some of the best hands in all of football. That’s why he had 13 targets. Not only because he can win and create separation, but because he’s reliable. The reason that before this season it was Justin Jefferson and then CD Lamb and we’re talking about the average per year based on his contract is because he earned that. And so when you’re Dak Prescott and you’re down by four points and you have an opportunity with the football, absolutely you’re going to number 88. But now for CD Lamb, it does have to be a situation where you go watch that film and you see what not making those plays did to your team. You see that dropping the football on a slant in the second quarter caused your team to make kick a field goal rather than continue a drive that gives you a touchdown. You drop a dig early in the second half and you say, “Okay, this is something that halts a drive and now we have to punt.” And then obviously the deep throw late in the game one-on-one with Quinn Yan Mitchell, that’s a gamechanging play that could lead to a winning play. And so if you’re CD Lamb and you are who we know you are, you are who you say you are, you have to make those plays. He listen, he has to make those plays. You’re the $136 million man. This bottom line, he has to make those plays and those two big drops in the fourth quarter espec I mean Dak put it right and said good lord Dak played well last night. Got the way. Yeah. Yeah, I understand that. But I mean Jaylen Carter had a lot to do with that in my opinion. So I ain’t going to worry about it. I ain’t losing no sleep over that. That man don’t get himself ejected. Dak Prescott ain’t sat sitting back taking pictures, ordering Uber Eats and all of that stuff before he throw a damn pass. I’m not I’m not taking no accountability with Down City. You are not CD. not taking no accountability. No accountability. I am not CD Lamb on this one. Oh, no, no, no. Not not for this particular subject. Jaylen Carter did that. I I can’t bet on that. You going to get ejected for fool? Are you serious? You’re going to get ejected. Please. What are you talking about? Is this Stephen A right though? How much did he benefit? How much but let me say this about CD Lamb. I appreciate the accountability. Big time drops. No doubt about that. But I’m not going to blame him. Totally. Certainly culpable. Absolutely. Because he make those catches, they win the game. But I’m not going to blame him. You know why? Because the Eagles scored in their first three jobs. You talk about a brother standing out, standing back, taking pitches, calling, doing everything he could. There was no pressure on Jaylen Herz whatsoever cuz Michael Parsons was knew that his ability to scramble the way that he scrambled. It would have been a lot harder if you got Michael Parsons with his speed and his ability to get to the quarterback. It wouldn’t have been so easy. So maybe if Micah Parsons were there, you wouldn’t have been able to run the way they were running the way Jaylen Herz was running the football. Okay, maybe that would not have happened. But because Micah Parsons was gone, the Eagles obviously were able. Hell yeah, we could blame it on blame it on him and I’m going blame Well, CD Lamb is not completely absolved. Of course, he should have caught those bastards. No doubt about the three drives last but but it’s not completely culpable but he has some culpability but Jerry Jones definitely does in this loss and address CD and then let’s get into the micica part of it. Yeah. So I agree. I think there’s two main reasons why the Cowboys lose the game. One the rush lanes were not disciplined enough against Jaylen Herz and he took advantage of it. Jaylen was practically perfect way of saying what I just said. Correct. And that’s a real thing. Five runs for first downs, two for touchdowns, and then the drops. Yes, the drops were huge. This is where the job gets tough because if you’ve ever spent any time with CD Lamb, you gain to appreciate who he is. You enjoy him. You root for him. Everyone says in this job, you got to be unbiased and not root for people, it’s hard when you get to understand him and like you you appreciate the person and then you watch him have the the the shortcoming and then they take the accountability for it. So like you don’t want to go kill them. But yes, obviously anybody who knows football realizes those drops were huge. And you know, I was watching something this past week where Nick Sabin was telling a story about it was his first time coaching lesson and he was talking about uh when he was a young high school quarterback and they came over late into a football game and they called timeout and the coach was like, “What do you want to do?” He’s like, “I don’t know. I got a all state receiver, all state running back.” He was like, “Best players over plays.” And I think the Dallas Cowboys did that last night in those situations. And if you’re Dak Prescott, you’re sitting there going, “I’m going to throw it to him again.” Yep. and CD Lamb will go make the catch again. I think Stephen A that’s the takeaway. Mile RC is like you beat yourselves if you’re Dallas. Yeah. And so that’s where the line you walk is frustrated as all get out because the drops are a huge part and Miles Sanders fumbles a huge part. And so you had them you had them but then at the same time you’re encouraged because you did do things in that football game that make you go we could be a good football team this year. But what about the Micah piece? What if Micah was Yeah. Point. Could have, should have, would they have won the game? Would they have won the game period? I think they win the game with Michael Parsons. Yes, I do. I do. I because I I don’t think he runs the way it happens. Listen, Jordan might himself. Listen List List List List List List List List List Listen. I love being on the air with these brothers, but but but you know, as RC has elevated because you know, he pivots well. Pivots well as he has elevated. You know, it’s kind of hard for him to just sit up there and Stephen A’s right. I mean, no, I got by the way CD Lamb’s a great guy. Great guy. You understand? and a great receiver. And a great receiver who by the way is going to make up for this. Last night was an indication that as things change, they remain the same. Something will go wrong. Just be patient. Wait for it. They won’t let you down. That’s what they did last night yet again. So, let me So, let me let me tell you this. This was my pregame last night cuz I was at the game last night. I was at the game on the sideline with David Mulligetta. That’s right. Actually, and then Stephven Jones walks over to me and driving down there, I was thinking to myself, the Jones family just doesn’t care. They absolutely love this man, right? And there is nobody in the world that talks about the Dallas Cowboys, the Jones family as much as this dude. And I’m saying to myself, like they just don’t care. Stephen Jones walks over to me on the sideline, hugs me, is laughing, and goes, “Boy, you’ve been killing me, but I don’t care. I love you.” Gives me a hug. Because they truly are operating in a world where they’re doing what’s best for the Dallas Cowboys, right? The Jones family, even in looking at last night’s game and seeing that Jaylen Herz, the runs he made, he wasn’t making somebody miss in the back field. He had actually surveyed the entire field. He had realized that no one was open. He still had no pressure. He just had to run cuz he had been back there for 6 seconds. That is where Michael Parsons comes in. Matt Eberflu actually did a good job as the coordinator because you know what normally happens when AJ Brown can’t get a target until late in the fourth quarter when Devonte Smith only has three catches. You have sacks and you have turnovers and you make plays. But a lot of times for the last four years, those plays came from number 11. Yeah, that’s right. It was a glaring difference in winning one-on- ons and making plays. Lane Johnson Lane Johnson told me this in training camp. He said, “You know what? I don’t worry about Jerry Jones. I worry about Micah Parsons.” And in this case, Jerry Jones took away that worry for them. That was right. But you weren’t cuz you said Dak was going to throw two picks. No, you did. You did. What did you say? I just say it. I just say I said it. I said it. Did the Eagles not drop the question? Did they not drop 300? But I have a question. Do you do you do you not do this? Oh, I have the tape, guys. I watched it. I watched I have the film. That’s true. I got the film. It’s going to be close, but Dak Prescott Dak Prescott going to turn it over two times. You got me. But my ass I still asked you a question, pivot man. I said, “Did the Eagles not drop three intercepts?” The Eagles dropped. Did they not drop? Oh, come on. Mitchell dropped one. Come on. They had right there in the hand. They did not have three. It was one Mitchell on the sideline. You going to agree with that? I don’t I don’t think C3 dropped interceptions. I think they were three. It was one. I think there’s a couple bang bang plays, but that’s part of the game. You talk about CD Lambda. Come on. The ball bounces off CD Lamb’s chest. Yeah, that’s not Dak Pres. It drops a drop touchdown or two as well. Ferguson drops a touchdown and Blankenship hits him. That’s not a Dak Prescott. Let me let me encapsulate the the Micah thing, though. They know I fur them. They they ganging up on me, but they know it’s at least Martin. I know, right? I’ll encapsulate it this way. The Eagles had or excuse me, the Dallas Cowboys had 14 pressures last night at one sack. You are converting at a significantly higher rate those pressures with Micah Parsons. Yes. Okay. Tell me this. As a Cowboys fan, how am I feeling this morning? And as an Eagles fan, how am I feeling this morning? What are our biggest takeaways? I think if you’re a Cowboys fan, you’re very encouraged. Shottenheimer looked like he had the team ready. Yeah. You were operational, very good. The end of the first half, the two-minute drive, we’ve seen that team fail in that way in multiple capacities. Internal part of your offensive line played very good. Caveat, no Jaylen Carter, so I’m not ignoring that. Dak Prescott looked fantastic. I thought he looked better last night than he did all of last season. And I thought the run defense was actually solid. So, I think you’re very encouraged. I think if you’re the Eagles and their fans, you’re going, we played our C game and we won. Our quarterback played a essentially perfect football game. Our offensive coordinator who knew looked really good. I am a little bit nine penalties on defense and a lot of them were controllables. Um multiple personal foul penalties. The Jaylen Carter thing I do think is is a worthy conversation. And also we all went we talked about it yesterday morning. If you’re the Cowboys, what are you going to do? I’m throwing every ball opposite Quin Mitchell. Last night, the Cowboys end the game through often opposite Quinan Mitchell. So, you do have to be a little bit concerned about the corner playing opposite Quinon Mitchell. How are you feeling this morning? Honestly speaking, in all seriousness, they should feel good. Dak Prescott looked pretty damn good last night. He really, really did better than he did all last year. You’re absolutely right. Okay. I know Dvonte Williams fumbled the ball, but he was running the football relatively effectively, averaging about four yards carry. I apologize. So, you have that going on, right? Then not only that, I got to take into consideration CD Lamb was balling. You know what I’m saying? He was balling. Okay, George Pickkins being on the opposite side is a formidable threat. They did neutralize the run. Hell Saquon Barkley only 60 yards rushing. I got to give credit where credit is due in that regard. And I love the feature on Brian Shottham because Marty Shottimer was a damn good coach. Okay. And see Brian Brian Sha that moment meant a lot to him and I really really love the feature that they did on him with that. So I I I give and coach had him ready. So, I gotta give credit to Brian Shottenheimr. But the flip side is if I’m the Philadelphia Eagles, here’s my concern. I don’t like the fact that if you’re AJ Brown and you’re Devonte Smith, you weren’t open most of the night. I just don’t What do you mean? I I’m just saying the Dallas Cowboys did a damn good job defending against them. Like Like RC said, you know, you standing in the pocket for six seconds. The The good side is that Jaylen Herz was able to run. Yeah. The bad side was that he spent all of that time looking for an open receiver and couldn’t find one. I’m just simply saying that I expect more from the weapons around Jaylen Herz because I know what those brothers can but I think that’s what Dallas decided to do in that game. I think the Cowboys decided to play a ton of zone. Okay, keep everything in front of them. But you you know obviously you obviously know more football than most. The point is you know the great ones no matter how I mean who you are. You could you could throw anything you want at CD Lamb. At some point you going you going to find that brother open at some point. You going to find a Justin Jefferson open at some point. Jamar Chase go up. I don’t give a damn what the They have You got to find it. They have different quarterbacks and their quarterback of the Eagles has a different mentality. Okay. Jaylen Herz truly is I’m going to do the right thing to make sure we win. That’s what he thinks. He doesn’t think I’m going to please people, right? You you can see that in the way Jaylen Herz addresses the media. He doesn’t sit up there and say, “I need to give them something.” He says, “I need to do what’s best for myself and for my team.” last night forcing the ball to AJ Brown and Devonte Smith wasn’t the way to win the game. But when he had the shot play to Jan Dodson on the double post, that’s right. He took it took it. Right. And so now what this is going to be about, Stephen A, because I agree with you in this sense, Kevin Patulo, right, who is a new offensive coordinator, he’s going to have to deal with this. We think back two years ago under a different offensive coordinator. It’s Minnesota Vikings. They’re playing a lot of rush three, drop eight. Yeah. Right. Remember AJ Brown didn’t get the ball. him and Jaylen Herz are having that conversation on the sideline. Now you move to last year, you play the Carolina Panthers. He doesn’t get the rock and that’s when we get the situation where he says, “Hey, what do we got to do better?” Passing. That’s what he’s reading books on the sideline later on in the season. Right. So now Kevin Patulo is going to have to make a decision. Do I go to Jaylen and say, “Hey, to start this game, if we get off coverage to AJ, let’s throw him a hitch.” Yeah. Right. So it’s going to be about how they manage that cuz their quarterback is going to do what it takes to win the game. It’s not that they weren’t open or CD Lamb’s gonna get the ball or Justin Jefferson’s gonna get the ball. It’s that offense is gonna scheme. Minnesota Kevin Oonnell, we got to get it 18 seconds, right? So, you got to figure it out. Yeah. They run their offense through them. I I I I think I understand the percept perception of it. I don’t think last night is one that spins it that way. If it continues to be a thing, I’m with you. In fairness to y’all, from a football novice perspective, somebody that watches as opposed to have played and covering it, if we’re watching a game on TV, what we’re thinking is AJ Brown has been hasn’t has hasn’t caught a pass in three quarters. Totally. We know that’s not their intent. Totally. You understand? So, you’re asking yourself, how did that happen? Totally. You understand what I’m saying? And that’s all. And then we supposed to feed it to cats like y’all to break it down. Yep. All right, we’ll leave it there. behind you. Hey

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Ryan Clark and Dan Orlovsky join Molly Qerim to discuss:
0:00 Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles
1:00 Jalen Carter’s ejection
5:30 RC’s response to Carter spitting on Dak Prescott
7:30 Cowboys let one slip away?
11:40 Would Micah Parsons have helped the Cowboys to a win?
16:04 Stephen A. Smith was right?!
19:00 Dak Prescott looked “pretty damn good”

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