Stephen A. Smith leaves ‘First Take’ scrambling after declaring Dallas Cowboys’ season ‘over’

If Stephen A. Smith is ready to declare the Dallas Cowboys’ season over after just three weeks, that’s not going to bode well for the future of First Take.

The Cowboys fell to 1-2 with a 31-14 loss to Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears Sunday afternoon, and Smith saw enough to open his Monday afternoon Mad Dog Sports Radio show by saying their season is finished. But who is going to suffer more from that declaration, Cowboys fans or ESPN?

“We got to talk about the Dallas Cowboys because ladies and gentlemen, as far as I’m concerned, for all you Dallas Cowboys hopefuls out there, the season is over,” Smith said. “Your defense is trash, it just has to be said. And we can’t mince words. We can’t wiggle our way around this stuff, the defense is trash. They’re horrible. It was bad enough to see what the New York Giants did to them just last weekend when…Russell Wilson looked like the second coming of Dan Marino.”

“When you look at the Dallas Cowboys, I can’t even get to a point where I’m looking at the Dallas Cowboys offense because this defense is so horrible,” Smith continued. “They can’t stop a cold. They can’t stop the sniffles.”

Just as they often do with the Los Angeles Lakers, ESPN and First Take typically seek to hype the Cowboys whenever possible. Sure, the Cowboys don’t look like a playoff team right now, but if you’re going to discuss their playoff potential, the early part of the season might be the only time to do it. And Stephen A. Smith just claimed their season is over. It’s Week 3 and he’s basically saying the Cowboys are already irrelevant.

But by saying their season is over after just three games, Smith isn’t just crushing the hopes and dreams of Cowboys fans; he’s crushing the hopes and dreams of ESPN, too. Because there’s nothing those daytime debate shows on ESPN love more than having a reason to talk about the Cowboys. And if their season is over in Week 3, surely that should end all topics about the Cowboys’ playoff chances for the rest of the year.

So, they can’t stop a cold, but can the Cowboys’ defense be so bad that it eventually gets ESPN and First Take to stop talking about them? Unlikely. If they can’t talk about how good the Cowboys are, they can still talk about how bad they are.