Emmitt Smith on the NFL MVP, Dak Prescott and Sports Gambling

Sports Illustrated

NFL legend Emmitt Smith joined Sports Illustrated and explained why while Dak Prescott is having a career season, Patrick Mahomes is currently the NFL MVP favorite, and why he's not a fan of sports gambling.

Transcript

00:00 I'm Robin Lundberg, joined now by NFL legend Emmitt Smith,

00:02 who's here with us on behalf of Bud Light.

00:05 And Emmitt, I know you got this commercial

00:07 with Peyton Manning.

00:08 You had a lot of success in your career,

00:10 but is there any quarterback you wish you could have taken

00:12 just a few snaps with that you didn't play with?

00:15 - Probably Tom Brady and maybe Patrick Mahomes.

00:18 I don't mind taking a snap from Peyton Manning.

00:20 I took a Bud Light from him,

00:21 so why not take a snap from him as well?

00:24 But yeah, there's a few.

00:26 There's a few out there.

00:27 Dan Marino would have been one too.

00:29 - There you go.

00:30 Now, the team you did play with is playing well,

00:33 and their quarterback is playing well.

00:36 What do you make of the emerging Dak Prescott MVP campaign?

00:40 - Well, again, it's still a little early to tell.

00:45 And I think everyone's fan favorite right now

00:49 is Patrick Mahomes.

00:51 No matter how well Dak Prescott plays,

00:53 if it's down to him and Patrick Mahomes,

00:55 most people gonna vote strictly Patrick Mahomes anyway.

00:59 But Dak Prescott has definitely emerged

01:02 and brought his name right into the forefront.

01:04 But you have to remember this,

01:05 and I think Dak understands this.

01:08 Early on, they were trying to throw him underneath the bus,

01:11 all because of a loss to the 49ers and the way we lost,

01:15 but also just trying to throw him under the bus,

01:17 trying to run him out of town.

01:18 Now all of a sudden, he's the darling of town.

01:20 So he understands that being in this threshold

01:25 and being at this level and playing for the Dallas Cowboys

01:27 comes with a lot of ebb and flows and swings.

01:30 And he's just trying to manage those swings

01:32 and win as many games as he possibly can.

01:35 I believe in his whole heart,

01:37 he would rather win an NFC Championship game

01:40 and have an opportunity to go to Super Bowl

01:42 than to become a MVP.

01:43 - If it was Patrick Mahomes and Dak,

01:46 who are you voting for?

01:48 - I'm voting for my guy, Dak Prescott.

01:50 That's me, personally.

01:52 And I'm being biased.

01:52 I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm voting for my guy.

01:54 It is what it is,

01:55 because I wanna see him become an MVP.

01:57 I wanna see him become a champion.

01:59 Just like I wanna see the whole team

02:00 become exactly what they're desiring to be.

02:04 I want them to experience what my teammates

02:07 and I have experienced,

02:08 and that's going to the Super Bowl

02:09 and winning the Super Bowl.

02:10 But in order to do that, they have to play well.

02:13 - I saw not too long ago,

02:15 you had said you would hold off

02:17 on giving him a long-term deal.

02:19 Have you changed your tune on that at all

02:20 in regards to Dak?

02:21 - No, no, I still feel the same way,

02:25 because at the end of the day,

02:27 we're just a little bit over halfway into the season,

02:33 and there's so much more football to be played.

02:35 And oftentimes, the conversation is not even about him.

02:39 It's the conversation is really for fans to get involved.

02:43 And so, talk radio can have someone to call in

02:45 and have these different conversations about.

02:47 And so, for Dak, I think he just need to keep his head down,

02:51 stay focused, continues to rise up,

02:54 and the contract talk would take care of itself.

02:57 - You mentioned at the top,

02:58 when we were talking about the Bud Light commercial

03:00 you did with Peyton Manning,

03:01 Tom Brady would be somebody

03:02 you would have wanted to play with.

03:04 He recently said that the level of play in the NFL

03:07 is mediocre.

03:08 What do you make of those comments?

03:09 - I don't disagree.

03:11 I think when you start looking at some of the

03:14 personified, rough in the past hits,

03:16 when you start looking at what they're asking kids

03:20 and athletes to do in terms of not shot blocking

03:24 in certain areas,

03:25 and yet they wanna talk about protecting players,

03:28 and you got guys that are straight up

03:30 bull-rushing players and so forth.

03:32 I mean, it is very hypocritical.

03:34 The game itself is very subjective.

03:36 And then when you incorporate the gambling aspect of it,

03:40 and you have these humans making these human errors,

03:43 and everything becomes subjective.

03:45 I mean, you just giving people

03:47 that probably never played the game an opportunity

03:49 or a job to sit here and evaluate something

03:52 that they never ever participated in at this level.

03:56 And I think it's just not right.

03:59 I think it's decaying the game,

04:02 and not to mention,

04:04 I think the quality of play has gone down,

04:08 and has gone down.

04:09 - You would get rid of sports gambling?

04:11 - It should never be in the game, period.

04:14 It shouldn't be,

04:17 I mean, if you're gonna gamble,

04:20 the league itself should not allow it to happen.

04:22 If you don't want players to be gambling,

04:23 don't be letting everyone else gamble on it.

04:26 If you're gonna play fantasy football,

04:27 play fantasy football.

04:29 That's fine.

04:30 That's fine.

04:31 But if you wanna start talking about all the odds bets,

04:33 and everything else,

04:34 and you got guys taking knees and kicking field goals,

04:38 and it's just at the right number,

04:39 it just doesn't look good.

04:41 - All right, Bud Light,

04:42 tell us about the work you're doing,

04:44 the commercial spot,

04:45 and then the chance fans have to win a Super Bowl ticket.

04:48 - Yeah, I'm thrilled to be teaming up with Bud Light,

04:50 in this new campaign,

04:52 to show how easy it is for fans to enjoy Bud Light,

04:54 during the football season.

04:55 And what Bud Light is trying to do,

04:57 is engage with fans.

04:59 And during the post season,

05:00 they're gonna be giving away a lot of tickets,

05:02 I mean, tons of tickets,

05:04 to fans to be able to give them a chance,

05:06 to go and have a very unique experience,

05:08 during the playoff,

05:09 to see some of their favorite football teams play.

05:11 And 21 plus fans,

05:14 will get a chance to go to the Super Bowl,

05:15 to watch the big game.

05:17 You know, and that's awesome.

05:19 And for Peyton Manning and myself,

05:21 we had a blast shooting the commercial.

05:23 And if you need more information,

05:25 on the campaign itself,

05:27 just go to BudLight.com/EasyToScoreSeat.

05:32 Well, BudLight.com/EasyToScoreSeat.

05:37 Score a seat, I should say,

05:38 score a seat, remember that,

05:40 score a seat.

05:41 - We'll get the text put in there for you,

05:43 I mean, I believe it starts December 1st,

05:45 fans can scan QR codes as well.

05:47 We really appreciate the time.

05:49 - No, thank you guys and enjoy.

05:51 (upbeat music)

05:54 (electronic music)

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