Stephen A. calls for Emari Demercado to be BENCHED + Are Patriots a THREAT to Bills? 👀 | First Take

Stephen A. calls for Emari Demercado to be BENCHED + Are Patriots a THREAT to Bills? 👀 | First Take

[Applause] All right, welcome back into First Take. We’re back with a quick take. Amari Dear Marcado looked like he had sealed the game for the Cardinals yesterday when he broke for a 72 yard touchdown run. However, he dropped the ball just before crossing the goal line resulting in a touchback. Cam, what did you think about this? The sad thing about it, Damen, is it’s going to be a part of his DNA for the rest of his playing career. Hey, man. You remember that dude that dropped the ball right before? Yeah, that was uh our boy D Marta. Like first and foremost, there should be teach tape for individuals who do not have a plan to celebrate because as an avid uh or the appointed judge of touchdown celebrations across the world, a lot of guys that think they doing something ain’t really doing it. So therefore, this particular individual, Amomar, does not have to look far. asked the film guy to say, “Hey, can I go back and look at this particular individual that played for this franchise for a long amount of years and then he never really celebrated and always celebrated with his team and always gave the ball to the referee?” Larry Fitzgerald, bro, Larry Fitzgerald scored a lot of touchdowns. And what did he do afterwards? He give it right to the dog on referee. Bro, you you you’re wasting the church’s money or you or or or you it’s it’s words can’t even come out because of that’s how messed up you did. Just imagine going back home, your brother, your sister, your girlfriend, your wife, your mama, your daddy. Everybody like, “Hold on. That ain’t what we doing. Not covering up the jacket. I don’t know him. That ain’t my boy.” You see what I’m saying? When he doing stuff like that, they was like, “Yeah.” Uhuh. Hold on. Wait a minute. What he got going on? Stephen A. What say you? I’d vent his ass. That’s what I mean. Somebody got to say it, so I say it. This what I would do. I mean, you know why? You know why? Because at some point in time, there’s some coach that has to step up and do it on behalf of the league, on behalf of the institution. You know, we saw what’s the kid AD Mitchell from from Indie, you know, do it a week ago when he tried to extend the ball and lost control of it. All because they’re showboating. And we got to understand and and let’s bring it home. Cam Woody, you know what I’m saying is true. You know, with the NFL, it’s very, very few star. It’s very, very few people that get marketed. You know, Cam, it was you, Superman, it was Brady, it was a few others, but everybody don’t get that. When you put on those helmets, when you put on the shoulder pads, whatever, it disguises your identity. So, we got cats that are thirsty. They ain’t just thirsty to play well. They ain’t just thirsty for success. They’re thirsty for notoriety. They’re thirsty for the recognition. And that’s what we’re discovering when we see some of these boneheaded mistakes that actually take place. You so caught up in you you you that you you you’re not afraid enough of messing it up for your team. How many times can C can cam what what segment did we make famous when I got up on the board and I said don’t let it be you don’t let it be you. Just don’t let it don’t let it be you. It better not be you. You know, when when you got when you have that kind of fear, you lock in and you zero in on doing your job. And and understand, we ain’t talking football. We ain’t talking sports. We’re talking every walk of life that involves you and a collect and a collection of teammates in order to get a job done. Your number one priority should be making sure you ain’t the one that mucks it up. You ain’t the one that messes it up. And unfortunately, we got a few cats that that just don’t think. I’m not saying he did that intentionally or anything like that, but you’re not thinking. I’d have benched his ass immediately. And if I didn’t do it then after the game, he would have known he wasn’t playing next week. He’d have known that I was that salty about him. You only been in the league for three years. That was You only scored three touchdowns in your career. You act like you’ve been doing this forever. I mean, every touchdown should be precious to you. And sure enough, he walks up in there with that lacadasical approach. Nah, he would feel it from me. I can tell you that much. I can tell you that much. Listen, first of all, he needs to understand, bro, you’re not that guy. You’re not that guy. You don’t have that type of security on the team that he even pull that type of stunt. That’s number one. Number two, that football is your lifeline. Think of how many people their jobs are on like on the hanging the balance of that football. And so what happens is those type of plays will change games, change seasons. Okay, look what happened immediately after that play. The Titans come back and win the football game. Okay, that’s what happens in these type of situations. Momentum can be a very tricky thing in this National Football League. Last year, remember the Hail Mary with the Washington Commanders in Chicago with, you know, Washington Commanders got it. And then what h what happened to both of those teams? They went in polar opposite direction. Yeah. Washington took off. Chicago Bears tank. A defining moment. It was a defining moment. And so that’s what these guys need to understand. You literally control guys jobs, coaches, players by one selfish and stupid decision with the ball. It’s not only the coach that should be ticked off. It should be Kyler Murray because he just said last week, I hope I’m here. You just lost, bro. Geez Louise. I’m having a conversation with our boy. Hey, man. Coach, don’t even worry about it. sit him down. Matter of fact, we going to sit him down cuz that’s unacceptable, right? Yeah. Unacceptable. But also, you know, he’s excited. Maybe that’s why. And you mentioned that he only kid should have been running through the 1572 Dolphins can pop some champagne again cuz there will be no undefeated season this year. The Patriots handed the Bills their first loss of the season with a late game field goal. And then meanwhile, the Broncos came back from a 14-point fourth quarter deficit to hand the Eagles their first loss of the season. The Eagles offense struggled yet again with Devonte Smith saying their passing game needs to get on the same page. Peter Strager here with us now from Jacksonville ahead of tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup. And Peter, I’ll start with you. Which loss was more concerning? Was it the Bills or the Eagles? All right, Stephen A, we’ll start with you. Peter’s having a little bit of trouble with his camera. Let’s start with you. Okay. In terms of what I think that the more the more concerning loss for me was the Philadelphia Eagles. Mhm. Because look at them. Look at how they’ve been playing. Uh both sides of the ball. I mean, listen, when you look at Denver, you can’t get them off the field for 12 minutes for nearly 12 minutes. They come back from a double- digit deficit, outscore you 18 to nothing in the fourth quarter. Where’s the defense? Where’s the offense? On offensive side of the ball, you’re running the football just twice in the entire second half. You’re throwing the football 38 times. You’re going up against your supposed identity. Why? Because you’re hearing noise from folks about AJ Brown and Devonte Smith. Nick Serriani has to make up his mind. Are you the boss or not, you know, and conduct yourself accordingly in terms of doing what you can to prioritize winning football games instead of appeasing people. I’m not saying that AJ Brown shouldn’t get the ball because I know that he should. Devonte Smith can ball as well. I want them to get the ball. I think the Eagles primary identity should be throwing them the football to be quite honest with you because I think they’ve got that kind of talent in their passing game even though Seaquin could be absolutely electrifying. But we also got to recognize the fact that Saquon Barkley was somebody that listen on their best day you ain’t going to see Cats run for over 2,000 yards every season. There are certain things that are that that are outliers. They stand out um and it’s an anomaly and it’s a deviation from the norm. And last season as great as Saquon Barkley was or is rather last season was a deviation from the norm. Usually you look at him you’ll say you know 13 to 1500 yard rush or whatever but he’s a spectacular kid and he did his thing last year. This year people going to key on him more which should free up AJ Brown a Devonte Smith and others. You got to take advantage of that if indeed Jaylen Herz can throw that football which we believe he can. And so the fact that the Eagles lost this game is one thing, but the fact that they shed the identity, they don’t seem to know who they are. They don’t seem to be they don’t seem to be married to a certain culture, a certain way of winning football games. I think that’s something that could be incredibly alarming and we should pay attention to that. Well, when you when you take in the fact of how they’ve been winning their football games, they’ve had a lot of help from opposing teams. Well, this particular week, like I said earlier, the Broncos won the game that they typically win. There are three issues that come to mind. Number one, Kevin Patulo. What’s your flow, bro? Like, like, what are we doing? We’ve been having issues, you know, since the beginning of the season. It’s like, yo, like, is he the right guy for the job? Okay, number two, the offensive line. Hey, it’s not just giving up six sacks is something that’s is heavily alarming, but also how why can we not run the football when we need to, when we want to, and when we have to, right? Saquon Barkley is the most talented running back, if not one top two, top two, top two. You dig what I’m saying? He’s he’s one of them type of guys that can that is a every down back. We cannot get him going. And that’s in a testament to the offensive line. And my last thing is talent utilization. Like how do we use all the talent in the right way? Of course, you only got one football. You have five studs at least on the one side of the football. So being able to keep everybody happy is is going to be one thing, but on the other side it’s like, hey, uh uh Coach Kev, like how are you planning to make sure whose game is it going to be today? because it’s not like we have an identity of knowing how your plan of attack is. It’s like you’re all over the place. Stephen A, who are you more confident in in terms of getting to the postseason, getting deep in the postseason? Is it this Bills team or it’s the Eagles? I think it’s the Bills by uh from a de facto perspective. Uh when you look at the AFC, the Chargers doesn’t appear to be what we thought they would be. Denver is good, but how good are they? Baltimore clearly doesn’t deserve doesn’t appear to be what we thought they would be. Same could be said for the Steelers. New England’s on a comeup. Miami and the Jets are trash. I mean, what is there to look at? When you look at the AFC South, obviously Indianapolis is a surprise. Uh they’re definitely a surprise. Jacksonville is still relevant. The Kansas City Chiefs have given us every indication. They’re not going anywhere. So, I get that part. But the bottom line is is that if we had to bet our money at this particular moment in time, Cam, we’d say Kansas City, Buffalo. That’s what we would say. That’s what we’d bet our money on. And the NFC, you don’t know. It could be Detroit. It could be Green Bay. It could be Tampa Bay. It could be the Rams. It could be Seattle. It could be It could It could be a few teams. It could be the Commanders after what we saw them do to the Charges yesterday. Let’s go back to the original question. More concerning loss, the Eagles or the Bills. I thought Stephen Ais laid it out really well. I I do look at Buffalo though and I wonder I wonder if they’re a little bit nervous about what they just witnessed last night in their building. That was a national coming out party for Drake May. And for the last five years, the Buffalo Bills have had a cakewalk in that division. And I know you could say, well, the Dolphins went to the playoffs a couple times. The Bills dominated the Dolphins in the big games when it mattered. Whether it be a playoff game when Skyler Thompson came into their building or it was a late season game with the playoffs number one seed on the line. I look at what Drake May did. Six for six fourth quarter, 13 of 14 in the second half. And now that’s the micro. Okay, the Patriots are here like they’re going to be a competitor this season. Then you think of the macro and wait a second, there was a window at the last five years where we dominated the Jets, we dominated the Dolphins and we dominated the Patriots and we have no Super Bowl appearances to show for it. The window’s not closed for Buffalo by any means, but Amina Cam Stephen A, I I have to wonder if they walk out of that building and say, “You know what? Yeah, we lost last night, but what beast did we just see awaken in the AFC East? And wait a second, did we not take advantage of a half decade of feudal feudal division opponents? Oh, Cam, what does that window look like? Well, I think Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, Cam. Hold on, Cam. Hold on, Cam. Peter, I appreciate you, man. And from that angle, it’s not an insult. It’s a compliment because I love him. But from that angle, you look like the Joker, bro. You look like the Joker for Batman, but I want you to know that I’m keep buffing out like that. All right, but here but here’s but here’s the deal. You know, shout out to shout out to the late great to the late great Heath Ledger. But but but let me say this to you. Let me say this to you, man. I think we got to pump the brakes. I mean, you know, what did you say about the Patriots? Some monster coming up. I mean, the first beast awoken. I I I don’t know. I don’t know about I think it’s going a little bit too far. I think it’s going a little bit too far. Patriots are good. They want to come up. Rael can Rabel can coach. Stefon Diggs can play when healthy. Drake May is showing us a little something. I got that part. Land Roj Stevenson on board. I I got it. But you know they they could be you could be awakening a monster. Some Let’s pump the brakes on that one. Let’s calm down. Okay. I ain’t gonna go that far on the Patriots. Not that far. Cam, does Peter need to pump the brakes? Um I’m I’m gonna take it a different angle. Okay. What a difference a year makes. Think about this. This time last year, we were calling the AFC the League of Supers and then calling the NFC the League of Pedestrians, however you want to call it. Jared Golf was really unproven or did you didn’t want to hang your hat on Jared Golf. Baker Mayfield was Baker Mayfield, right? And then you have on the opposite, you have Lamar Jackson playing good football. Josh Allen obviously became the league MVP. You have Patrick Mahomes still doing Patrick Mahome things. and Joe Burrow at the same time. You had a dominance of of talent on the AFC. Now, fast forward to 2025 where it’s like it is completely flipped. What about Jordan Love? What about Dequavius Press uh uh uh uh Dquavius Prescott? He has something to say. When you start to think about uh uh uh Sam uh Darnold, when you start to think about all these talented quarterbacks and players and teams on the NFC side, it’s like, oh my goodness, how things have changed. So whether it’s the Patriots, they have an opportunity, but to say that they’re going to to dethrone the Buffalo Bills at this particular point, no. because I don’t see Buffalo really playing a game like that where they have three ugly turnovers, a box snap, right? A a calculated interception where it’s like, bro, you forcing it, Josh. You ain’t got We got points right there. It’s field goal range. And then on top of that, you got Coleman fumbling. It’s a lot of these things that you’re typically used to seeing the Buffalo Bills get takeaways, but they were on the opposite side of of that spectrum yesterday. Yeah, it was uncharacteristic. Peter, I’ll let you up. I look at it this way. I still have the Bills winning Super Bowl this year. I said that before the season. They came into this game the number one team. They’re going to leave the number one team. I believe they finally have an adversary that they need to look at in that division, which for the last 5 years has been a cakewalk. And this was the season with Baltimore slow out of the gates, with Houston slow out of the gates, with Kansas City slow to the gates. This could have been the season where they just cakewalked to the number one seed last season in that building. Let’s go host the playoffs and let’s have this heroic. Still can be, but I think last night was a bit of a wait a second now. We might we might have some opponents in this division we have to actually lose some sleep over. I’m still an all in on Buffalo. I’m with you guys. I do believe last night though we saw the birth of a guy Drake May that might be in this conversation over the next several years. You know what last night said to me, Peter? You know what it say? What? You know what it said to me, Peter Trager? The Buffalo Bills could, you know, they can make the Super Bowl. They remind me of the Buffalo Bills that lost four straight Super Bowls. I could see them going to the Super Bowl and losing again. That’s what that That’s what I said it. I said it. Damn right I said it. No shade No shade No shade to Josh Allen who’s an absolute stud, but Jim Jim Kelly wasn’t trash. You understand what I’m saying? Thurman Thomas wasn’t trash. Bruce Smith wasn’t trash. They had some They had some elite brothers on those squads as well that looked really really good and then they’d run into an NFC foe in the Super Bowl that was a juggernaut. That’s what I I mean, if the Bills remind me of anything, it would be that, not them winning the Super Bowl. I don’t know what recollection you’d have to fall on to place them in that position, Shreger. I’m sorry. I’m not giving them that. I don’t know. Peter’s pretty good at predicting those things, so I’m not I’m not gonna lie. I might lean I might lean on Peter for that one right there. All right, let’s take a What evidence do you have, Amina? What evidence do you have that? I don’t recall that matter. Pet has picked some Super Bowl wins, though. Peter has picked some Super Bowl wins, so I’m going to lean on him for that. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Cam Newton and Damien Woody react to Emari Demercado dropping the ball at the goal line, erasing a 72 yard touchdown for the Arizona Cardinals before Peter Schrager joins to debate whether the Buffalo Bills or Philadelphia Eagles’ loss was worse.

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