Steve Smith called out Greg Hardy on his nonsense Monday, and the football world applauded. It was what he said, and how he said it — but none of that was more important than who said it.
The fraternity of NFL players does not have Greg Hardy’s back on this one. They’re not jumping to support one of their own.
Hopefully, that means something, for everybody who wants to see real consequences in America’s biggest sports league for domestic violence. The advocacy groups can speak out, the public can speak out, even the league and its teams (like Smith’s coach on the Ravens, John Harbaugh) can mouth the right words at times and be believed.
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But Hardy’s own colleagues, his fellow players, have the loudest voices. Steve Smith used his, in a visceral reaction to the snippet of Hardy’s ESPN interview. Before that, William Gay used his. Jason Witten used his.
Gay and Witten joined the league-sponsored PSAs against domestic violence last year. But what they've done away from that, on their own, has driven it home even more. Now they're joined, spontaneously, by an extremely popular, immensely respected veteran, someone fans love and fellow players practically worship.
If this keeps spreading, from one player to the next, people would listen. Because it’s the NFL. Not the league office, but the humans who make the NFL what it is, the reason the nation watches and listens.
They could be the last line of defense, when the teams — looking at you, Jerry Jones — fail to draw a line themselves.
Among the clear messages domestic-violence advocates have sent in recent years are that "men challenging men" make a genuine impact. Also, what has happened in the NFL the last few years has shined a light on the problem more than any other incidents since they’ve been tracking them. The ugly scenarios — like Hardy’s — get everyone’s attention.
So, then, should an un-rehearsed, unscripted pushback by the players themselves. Including the ones from players who relate to the problem themselves.
That’s what resonated from Gay, the Steelers’ cornerback who wore purple shoes in games last season (and absorbed the NFL's ridiculous uniform-violation fine) to remind the world that his mother was killed by his stepfather. That’s what made Witten’s story of having an abusive father resonate so far and wide last season.
IYER: Why Greg Hardy is no longer worth the risk
And that’s what made Smith’s tweet Monday go viral. He saw Hardy’s words and said — so clearly and pointedly and so much in his own style you can practically hear him speaking it — “Nope, nope, not having that, not here, not now.’’
There may be places where Hardy, and other notorious woman-beaters, might find safe harbor in the NFL. But not around Steve Smith, or Gay, or (ironically, considering where Hardy played last season) Witten.
To be fair, Hardy doesn’t appear to be welcome anywhere right now; it’s safe to assume that if he was swimming in job offers or if the Cowboys wanted him back, Hardy wouldn’t be giving interviews like the one on ESPN.
Then again, he’s available cheap, and he still has a marketable skill. It still only takes one team to say, “Hey, why not?’’
That team had better not have another Steve Smith, or William Gay, or Jason Witten on it. There likely are more than we know right now. And today, they have more space to speak up … because Steve Smith wasn’t afraid to speak up.