What about Anthony Smith?

 Steelers third-year safety Anthony Smith has found himself on the hot seat during training camp, due in part to a hit last week that put wide receiver Hines Ward on the ground [ read Post-Gazette story ]. What's your opinion?

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 Any real Steeler fan knows where Smith is from.  Don't get it twisted, not everyone from Youngstown is a thug.  Although we grew up in an area where you had to deal with thugs and learned that you can't take *** from anyone or you would be labled soft and make things hard for yourself if you did not earn respect early.  Let me send a message to the league (including my team the Steelers) Don't come his way if you don't want to get hit!!!      

Keep layin' them down Smith!

Cobb (From the Eastside)

I dont think he is a thug... but you are way off "Don't come his way if you don't want to get hit!!" I wish he would have hit anything during the Patriots game last year. Keep talking Smith, you will talk your way right out of the league. Take a tip from Troy and keep your mouth shut, and crush people. That will be all the talking you need to do.

The article did not call Smith a thug, it said his behavior was.  His background and hometown are irrelevant. 

If Bill Gates does something stupid, you can look at him and say "that was dumb," which is completely different than "you are a moron."  If one does mean things to someone else, one can expect to be called a jerk.  That's the way life works.

Anthony Smith is so tough that when he's not getting beat on the field, he can run his mouth and take cheap shots at his own teammates, but can't handle being called a name? 

If Smith doesn't want to get hit with names, perhaps he should a) play better and b) stop doing stupid things.  Until then, his behavior warrants all of the following derogatory terms including "loser," "thug," and the inevitable one that will sting the most- "former Steeler"

There is a difference between Anthony Smith and other players around the league with infamy for their lousy attitudes like Terrell Owens Chad Johnson.  Owens and Johnson have an enormous upside to their team in the way they play the game.  Anthony Smith brings the same type of headaches, yet his play on the field in no way offsets the downside.  He's not an outstanding player making selfish mistakes; he's a lousy safety doing stupid things.

There are enough backup safeties in the world that the Steelers need not put up with Smith's subpar play, big mouth, bad attitude, or questionable behavior any longer.

Dear Fans:

Read the article.  It characterizes the behavior as thuggery, it does not call him a thug.  Before you ask the question, no, it does not mean the same thing.  You can be boorish without being a boor, you can be unsportsmanlike in one instance and still be a sportsman.  It's called language and before you become a critic you need to first read the article then learn what the words mean in the context in which they were used.  The reactions to this incident are as usual, being overblown.  The player hit a member of his own team in a drill designed so that hitting the receiver does not occur.  Mr. Smith is known for this kind of behavior.  If he does it to an opposing player that's fine with me, if he does it to one of his own players it is not.  It is at the very least an error in judgement, an area where heretofore, he has shown no significant improvement.  As for Mr. Tomlin's comments, since he likes to refer to the players as men, I wonder if he was manly himself and addressed the writer personally to get an understanding of just what was meant in the article or did he just go public and thereby create all of this reaction.  It takes the attention of of the behavior of the player and attempts to transfer it to the writer of the article.  Mr. Tomlin has indicated that he should not have hit the receiver.  So now lets turn down the rhetoric and go back to watching the game and root the Steelers to a winning season.

I partly agree with you but someone of Gene Coulliers intelligence should know intended or unintended those words were going to cause trouble based on the race of the person in reference. What people don’t understand is when you come from the ghetto neighborhoods i come from that term is referenced to explain criminals and when you have spent your life staying away from that lifestyle as many of us have you take offense to being referred to anything that describes criminals. Its called racial sensitivity and because you don’t come from where I come from I don’t expect you to understand that but as a human and a good person I do expect you to respect that. The word thuggery has no place in football where no crimes were committed. Was it Unsportsmanlike, Unnecessary, Immature, Stupid even cowardly absolutely but a form thuggery absolutely not. Anytime some one of color performs something that is no more than a bad idea  or poor judgment or immature behavior its characterized as thuggery. When hockey players fight its not called thugery its called apart of the game when a player lays a hit on player coming across the middle its described as thuggery. I feel it was a bad choice of words when pertaining to a game and that is what Tomlin was saying. He said that it was not called for but not something that should be referred to as thuggery or acting thuggish that adds a whole new level designation that is not needed. I agree that Anthony Smith is wearing on my nerves but it has everything to do with his antics of being immature and reckless and nothing to do with any type of thuggery behavior because thuggery should be reserved for thugs who commit crimes no crime was committed. Thuggery is defined as a violent act of thugs. Thug is defined as a brutal ruffian or assassin. There was nothing brutal about the hit cruel absolutely. This just another example of a wordsmith using the wrong word to over analyze something so simple.

I played the free safety position, and can tell you it is hard to play at half speed. Just because Hines Ward is a fan favorite and the public is still mad at Anthony Smith for displaying required confidence and getting beat against New England doesn't justify anyone calling him a thug.

I want the Steelers defense to be nasty.

I'm cool with  Smith. Perhaps Ward is just crying out because he knows that he can't hold back the young recievers too much longer.

 Look here Mr. Smith, you made the mistake last year of opening your mouth and predicting wins inwhich I re-call watching you get torched like a high school safety in no-mans land.  In order to play here, you have to win over the fans.  Now your laying the lumber on a the oldest reciever the STEELERS have on their roster.  Come on Cuz, get it together.  if not, your gonna find yourself in a new city when your contract is up.  You have the talent, but dont seem to have the smarts.  Good luck.

 It's F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L!  Last time I checked it's a contact sport, and Tomlin has them wearin' pad.  Be prepared to lay out some licks and expect to be hit.  The only thing that disturbed me was he demeanor when Coach LeBeau was speaking to him.  I heard he pretty much ignored him and wouldn't look him in the eye.  Coach is a true Hall-of-famer if there ever was one (totally separate discussion), but when he's talkin' you'd better show some respect and listen.  If Smith feels he's beyond criticism, or accepting guidance/direction from Coach LeBeau, he's not needed on this team.

I don't know or care about a hit in practice, and Mike Tomlin will learn not to pay attention to anything that the pompous Collier writes.  But when people come on this forum and start bad-mouthing an integral part of our top-3 ranked pass defense, somebody has to correct them.

Our pass defense held every team after Denver, except the Pats, to barely more than 200 yards passing.  The Steelers pretty much eliminated the long pass last year, allowing only half of the 40+ pass receptions of each of any of the previous five years.  Smitty and his 50+ solo tackles were a huge part of that.  Denying that is just showing that you didn't watch the games or that you have a bad memory.  You can use as many slurs like "subpar" as you want, but it won't change the fact that Smitty had a huge year in one of the best Steeler pass defenses in a long time.

And then Anthony Smith got beat bad by Randy Moss and the Patriots. Well, every Steeler got beat bad by the Patriots.  I think allowing Tom Brady to pass 46 times without one sack is at least equally as bad as allowing Randy Moss to run by you.  We can't condemn Anthony Smith because he got beat by an undefeated regular season team.

I really think it is ironic that Smizik writes an article about how the offensive line will undoubtedly get better after losing their best player, but this paper insists on picking on a second-year safety who was forced to fill in for an injured player last year.  The team didn't see much of a drop-off after losing a great starting safety like Ryan Clark (at least according to objective things like statistics), but now the media claims this is a "do or die" year for Smith.  This different level of standards for different positions is mind-boggling.

Ok...let's see...Anthony Smith has made news in the past year for three noteworthy actions/events. First, he runs his mouth about shutting down Tom Brady in New England last year violating every "run your mouth to the media rule" in the Steelers behavior code handbook. 2) Brady beats him like a rented mule on national television. and 3) He takes a cheap shot at one of the greatest Steelers and gridiron warriors of all time players (Hines Ward) IN PRACTICE!

Do you see a pattern of bad behavior and judgment here??? Even the great one Jack Lambert would recommend that Smith get a check up from the neck up.

I agree with you.  People who pay attention to the "news" think Smitty is a problem.  (I use the term "news" loosely when talking about Collier, Smizik, and Dulac.)  People who pay attention to the games are excited to have such a good, young back-up safety.  I'd rather talk to people who pay attention to the games.

One guy who paid attention to the games said, "Judging a football player has nothing to do with the accidents of appearance."  A guy named Chuck Noll, if you've heard of him.

 Every year we wait to see hits like that on opposing teams and the defense has not been producing them. The closest  the fans have come to seeing them have been produced by Hines'. I personally feel that the defense should be taking it out on the teams they are playing and not their own. Oh, how I remember the days gone by when we use to yell Defense and it meant some-thing. Where have all the defensive backs gone, long long time ago. I will always remember Hines for showing the defense how to hit someone in the backfield. Poor Anthony Smith, for some unknown reason can only get a shot at one of his own and has to get his thrills from that. Where is his head at?There are other ways to make a name for yourself in camp and in preseason games.

I didn't see the hit in training camp, but I did see the hit Anthony Smith laid on Housh last year.  I can't imagine he hit Hines harder than that.

And a bunch of hits like that is why the Steelers had the most success against the Bungles passing attack anytime since the phrase "Bungles passing attack" didn't inspire guffaws.

ouch, slash. harsh, harsh words. and unfortunately, very, very true. good post.