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Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe Really Went at It During 'First Take'

Bill Belichick to the Cowboys proved to be a hot topic.

Kyle Koster

First Take talked Cowboys, creating sparks.
First Take talked Cowboys, creating sparks. / Awful Announcing on X

Debating sports on television is all fun and games until the flip switches from dramatically antagonistic to actually antagonistic and a Monday morning exchange between Shannon Sharpe and Stephen A. Smith on First Take has some viewers wondering if some real sparks were flying. It all started as it always does, with a debate over the 4-7 Dallas Cowboys and if their embattled coach—this time Mike McCarthy—could salvage his job for another season by finishing strong down the stretch with backup quarterback Cooper Rush and the type of weirdness we just saw in their upset victory over the Washington Commanders. Then, in a stroke of genius, the panel disagreed on the idea of ol' Bill Belichick coming into town to lead America's Team.

Tedy Bruschi and Sharpe were pretty down on any such notion due to Jerry Jones' desire to turn the page while Smith was more optimistic that things could work. This caused all kinds of friction on the set as Sharpe at one point accused Smith of saying he thought he knew more football than him! Even though Smith tried to assure his co-host that this was not the case, the toothpaste was out of the tube.

You hate to see two greats going at each other like this—unless you love to see two greats going at it like this to create television. And all over something so imaginary as Belichick willingly signing up to be a part of the Cowboys' mess.

On the bright side, this clip shows why Sharpe is special. Very few people can sign up to go on debate television and then act legitimately surprised that the other debater isn't agreeing with them but Sharpe's been doing it expertly for years. Can't teach something like that.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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