Steve Smith ejected for fighting, then watches rest of game with oldest son
You knew Steve Smith wasn’t going to leave football without one last scrap with DeAngelo Hall.
Smith, the Baltimore Ravens receiver who said he plans to retire at season’s end, has a long, sordid past with the Washington Redskins’ Hall dating back to their days facing each other twice a season in the NFC South.
In Saturday’s preseason game, tensions grew between the Ravens and Redskins after Redskins linebacker Keenan Robinson gave an extra hard tackle to Ravens receiver Kamar Aiken, essentially body slamming him at the end of the hit.
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Both sides started scrapping and — yep — Smith and Hall found each other staring eye to eye. Naturally, they tussled. Smith grabbed Hall’s jersey, and Hall did the same to Smith. No obvious punches were swung, but Smith was ejected from the game, saluting the crowd with a nice bow and brilliantly getting himself out of a night’s work that really doesn’t matter all that much.
Veteran move. We’re going to miss you, Steve. Why is Smith retiring? He said, in part, because he wants to spend more time with his family, including his four kids. So check out where Smith is now: with his oldest son, Peyton, in the stands. Amazing.
Smith and Hall have a history that goes back a decade, and though they have mellowed considerably toward each other of late, these old rivals just couldn’t pass up one more chance to lock horns with one another.
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It also set up a fantastic Round 2, though; turns out that Smith-Hall was just the undercard. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh ran all the way over to where the fight happened near the Redskins’ sideline, getting in the face of Redskins head coach Jay Gruden. The two exchanged some rather heated words and had to be escorted back to their respective corners by the zebras.
Now this is preseason action!
It’s going to be fun to hear what happened not only between Smith and Hall but perhaps more juicy, between Harbaugh and Gruden.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
