Schefter and Wyche stir the pot on Smith

Yes (thanks to Gantt's commenter who posted the link).

He doesn't sound cavalier about things there.

His more recent comments (blog/Irvin, etc.) seem to me more impatient with demands from the media--and maybe a subset of fans--for ever more abject contrition. Given that some of these folks will never be satisfied, he has to draw the line somewhere.

 

That was a while ago. He did seem embarrassed then (maybe not contrite), but that's seemingly faded.

No, he doesn't. Steve wants to pretend that it never happened, that he didn't do anything wrong, and that he's being persecuted unfairly. Sucker-punching Lucas in the face wasn't an accident, nor was it a minor infraction. And given that he's had a history of violent outbursts against teammates in the past, of course it's going to be an ongoing issue. People don't want him to show continued contrition to humiliate him, but because this is a pattern of behavior and we want reassurances that it isn't going to happen again. Right now, judging by how Steve is responding, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it happened again this year. That's not likely, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it did happen. He has shown nothing to indicate that he's really trying to change himself.

 

Well, we see it differently. Time will tell.

For now, Steve's chosen to focus on playing, and I'm OK with that.

 

I don't like the situation being characterized as a "mistake" or "bad judgement".

 

Lucas seems happy. Team seems happy. Smith seems relatively happy. Fans seem happy.

 

i deal with this shit all the time at work

great call

 

Smith comes out and plays well and we keep winning this will go away forever. If he comes in an sucks or we go on a losing streak it may blow up.

 

I don't foresee him coming in and "sucking".

The losing streak blows anything up. Everything looks better when you're winning. Smith's presence will not hurt the team in any way.

 

I do not see it happening either but if we start losing games it will not be long before someone points out that we were winning before he came back and start questioning if he is disrupting the team.... I think we keep winning though. We might lose to the Vikings but the next couple of games should be winnable.

 

I spoke with Smith at a Palisades media avilability. To say he is not remorseful is just stupid. Him saying on his blog he doesn't want to do interviews as much is his call. Seriously, those who are saying he is making himself out to be the victim are only reading someone else's perception. I've spoken to him, looked into his eyes, and trust me--he hates that it happened. If he could go back and undo it, he would, and not because he was suspended for the first 2 weeks of the season. This whole thing has hurt him as a man. It hurt him because now his kids have to deal with people asking about it. It's a much bigger issue to him personally than you might think.