Late For Work 1/30: Skip Bayless Trolls Terrell Suggs

Skip Bayless Trolls Terrell Suggs

The self-proclaimed "frenemies" are back together.

With the Super Bowl in Terrell Suggs' Arizona backyard, he finally made it back to ESPN's First Take, and it should come as no surprise that Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith trolled the Ravens outside linebacker, peppering him with "gotcha" questions.

They know about his dislike for the Patriots, and repeatedly tried to goad him into talking disrespectfully.

Nobody does gotcha journalism better than these two, but Suggs stayed above the fray … for the most part.

*Are the New England Patriots cheaters?
*
"You know why I'm here," Suggs joked, channeling his inner-Marshawn Lynch. "Of course not."

*If Tom Brady manages to win the Super Bowl and wins the MVP, could you make the argument that he's the greatest player – not just quarterback – in the history of football?

"You know why I'm here," Suggs repeated, inciting laughter from the crowd.  "You make a valid argument, but there are just too many players and too many positions to say he's the greatest of all-time. But he's also lost three [Super Bowls]."

Wait, have you gained some new respect for Tom Brady … since he beat you 35-31 in the playoffs? * *"Don't fall for it," Suggs said to the crowd because it started cheering on the question.

Why did you lose two 14-point leads to this team [in the divisional round]?

"Hey man, you saw that little circus out there, man," Suggs said. "Four offensive linemen, who's eligible, who's not, and then you're going to fool us with the Tom Foolery with the double pass. I was like, 'Wait, what's going on here?' But hey, all the respect, they won and we're not making any excuses, but we'll be back next year."

* Do you think the Patriots are overhyped as a franchise?
*
Suggs: "No, you can't say that. What do they have … six Super Bowl appearances?"

Do you not like Tom Brady?

"I can't say I really don't like him," Suggs said. "I don't like the treatment he gets. With all due respect, everyone has seen how we hit that boy in black and yellow [Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger].  They don't throw him any flags. Everything is legal with Mr. Ben. But you get close to those guys that sell them tickets, you know the No. 18s [Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning], the No. 12s [Brady] the No. 9s [Saints quarterback Drew Brees]. You get too close to them and everybody's like, 'Hey! At the end of the day, this is a business and you don't hurt those guys. You don't even touch them. You don't even look at their body.'"

But you said you don't even like Brady's hair.

"Look at me!" Suggs said pointing at his follicly-challenged head. "He's married to Gisele [Bündchen, super model]. Come on, man, they got too much [good] going on."

I tried to warn you year after year, as much as your quarterback occasionally proved me wrong, that [Joe] Flacco would turn back into Fluke-o.  What happened at the end of the Patriots game, when you least needed him to do it, he threw an interception at the end of the game, right?

"The [Patriots] defense made a good play," Suggs said. "It happens. At the end of the year, there's only going to be one champion. I think Joe played outstanding. This year I think he probably had one of the best years ever. He's already proven he's a champion. I think he'll come back and do it again. He's January Joe. I'm not going to judge him on one loss alone. He's won more Super Bowls than he's lost. I will say that.

"Yeah, that was a shot. Go ahead and throw that in there."

Did Lardarius Webb Cut His Dreads?

The world almost stopped when wide receiver Torrey Smith cut his dreads.

So what will happen if Lardarius Webb follows suit? Whatever it is, you better brace yourself.

Webb posted on Instagram a picture of a pile of dreads on the floor, giving the distinct impression that he is going for a shorter look. His fans were not happy, and others wanted more proof:

mama2boyz: "Nooooooooooooo........"

kbhairdooz: "STOPPPPP!!!!!!!!"

thomasstephanie1199: "@l_webb21 ssstttoooppp playing are you serious, I need Proof."

How Badly Ravens Missed Jimmy Smith

ESPN's Jamison Hensley looked at the numbers to see how the Ravens played with and without top cornerback Jimmy Smith, who landed on injured reserve after a season-ending foot injury on the opening drive of the Week 8 contest against the Bengals.

Here's Hensley's breakdown, which shows how badly the Ravens missed Smith.

"Do the Ravens give up six touchdowns to Ben Roethlisberger with Smith?" Hensley asked. "Do they fail to hold a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter against Philip Rivers with him? And do they beat Tom Brady in the playoffs and advance to the AFC Championship Game with Smith? 

"Smith's absence only magnified how much the Ravens need a healthy Smith in 2015."

Quick Hits

• Oh boy, a romantic Valentine's Day duet with Torrey Smith and Dave Dameshek. [NFL.com]

• Here's Katy Perry's Super Bowl halftime performance press conference, in which she says, "Nothing in my performance will be deflated."