ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith defends Bart Scott following criticism over Damar Hamlin take

Stephen A. Smith rushed to the defense of ESPN NFL analyst and former linebacker Bart Scott following criticism over comments regarding the injury to Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who remains in critical condition.

On Tuesday’s First Take, Scott appeared to blame Hamlin’s injury in part on Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, who lowered his head while being tackled by Hamlin. In 2018, the NFL updated its rules to prohibit all players from lowering their head to initiate and make contact with an opponent, which is what Scott said Higgins did.

“I’m not trying to put the blame on Tee Higgins, but that’s something [the NFL] tried to take out,” Scott added. ”They never make that call.”

Scott’s comments went viral Tuesday, drawing a wave of criticism from NFL players. Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons wrote on Twitter, “Why do we let some people speak on TV?!” Former Bengals tackle Andrew Whitworth, who serves as an analyst on Amazon’s Thursday Night Football, called Scott’s take “BS.”

Smith opened Wednesday’s First Take with a defense of Scott, calling on critics to “calm down.” Smith said he simply asked Scott to explain what happened during the play, which involved Higgins lowering his head as Hamlin went to make an otherwise normal tackle.

“He wasn’t blaming Tee Higgins in any way, he wasn’t questioning his intent in any way, and for people out there to say otherwise is ludicrous,” Smith added. “That is not what Bart Scott said on this show yesterday. That’s an absolute lie.”

Did the NFL plan to resume Monday’s Bills-Bengals game or not?

During ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast, announcer Joe Buck said on air the Bills and Bengals would have five minutes to warm up and resume play after injured Bills safety Damar Hamlin was taken to the hospital.

“They said they’re going to give five minutes of a warm-up to these players to get ready,” Buck told the New York Post on Tuesday, noting the information came from ESPN rules analyst John Parry.

Troy Vincent, an NFL executive vice president, denied during a conference call with reporters early Tuesday morning that the league planned to restart the game, saying it “never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play.”

In a statement, ESPN called Monday’s coverage “an unprecedented, rapidly-evolving circumstance” and backed what was said during the broadcast, noting Buck “reported what we were told in the moment.”

Here is ESPN’s full statement:

Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe returned to the set of FS1′s Undisputed on Wednesday after skipping Tuesday’s show in the wake of a widely criticized tweet sent by his co-host, Skip Bayless.

Bayless, known for his fiery and often nonsensical rants, questioned why the NFL would consider suspending Monday’s game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals shortly after Hamlin’s injury, which required CPR and left him hospitalized in critical condition.

“No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game - but how?” Bayless wrote on Twitter Monday night. “This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome ... which suddenly seems so irrelevant.”

Bayless refused to apologize for the tweet on Tuesday, which has drawn over 160 million views.

Sharpe attempted to deliver a short monologue to start Wednesday’s show, explaining his thoughts on Hamlin and how it brought back memories of a terrible injury suffered by his bother, former wide receiver Sterling Sharpe, that nearly left Sterling Sharpe paralyzed.

But Bayless couldn’t help himself, and interrupted Sharpe after just 40 seconds, leading to the shouting and general awkwardness the show has become known for.

“Is anyone running FS1? What is going on there?” asked New York Post columnist Andrew Marchand.