Stephen A. Smith isn’t interested in waiting to see what comes next for CJ Gardner-Johnson. After the Buffalo Bills safety was ejected in Week 6 for spitting at Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, Smith argued Monday on First Take that the league should tack on more punishment.
Gardner-Johnson’s latest flashpoint gave the NFL another jolt in a season that briefly overlapped with the Florida Gators-Georgia Bulldogs rivalry on Halloween, but this one came out of the Week 6 matchup between the Bills and Raiders. Smith made it clear he thinks the 28-year-old defender crossed a line.
“I literally in football can body slam you and get away with it… legally. It is allowed in the sport.
Why would you do something like [spit]?” Smith said.
“There’s a reason why you’ve been to multiple teams… it’s about your behavior. And to do something like that, that shows an absence of character… he should be suspended.”
"He should be suspended." @stephenasmith responds to C.J. Gardner-Johnson being ejected from Raiders-Bills due to spitting. pic.twitter.com/HzqWJCwBgE
- First Take (@FirstTake) October 19, 2026
The ejection wasn’t the only reason Gardner-Johnson has been in the spotlight lately. After Buffalo’s Week 4 loss to the New England Patriots, he called tight end Efton Chism III, who caught the game-winning touchdown, a “practice squad player.” That jab carried a bit of irony, since Chism has never been on an NFL practice squad, unlike Gardner-Johnson.
Whether the NFL adds further discipline remains to be seen. If no suspension comes, Gardner-Johnson is set to help Buffalo against the Baltimore Ravens after the team’s Week 7 bye.
In Other News...
Tennessee Just Gave Vols Fans New Ammo Against Alabama
Week 7 delivered one of those Saturdays that reshapes the conversation around the SEC, and Tennessee had plenty to do with it. The Vols backed up a strong performance from running back DeSean Bishop with a defense that made life miserable for Alabama, giving their fans a fresh reason to revisit the rivalry and point to the Crimson Tides flaws after a game that felt more like a statement than a one-off upset.
It was also part of a broader shake-up across college football, with top-ranked Georgia and Notre Dame both going down in a chaotic slate. BYU knocked off Notre Dame without its star running back, Texas slipped again in a loss to Florida under Steve Sarkisian, and Oklahoma State continued to struggle, but Tennessees win stood out for the way it was built: physical, opportunistic and hard to dismiss no matter how the rest of the season plays out. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Just Shook Up The Rankings In A Way Fans Had To See
Week 7 turned the AP Top 25 upside down in a way college football rarely sees, with five of the top eight teams losing on the same day for the first time in the polls 90-year history. Auburns win over No. 1 Georgia was the headline grabber for Bulldogs fans to absorb, but it was part of a bigger wave of chaos that also included BYU taking down No. 2 Notre Dame.
The shakeup sent Miami to No. 1 for the first time since 2002, with BYU climbing to No. 2 and Ohio State landing at No. 3. For Georgia, the bigger picture is less about one bad Saturday than the way quickly a season can change when the teams around you start tumbling too, and the rankings now reflect just how much instability is baked into the race ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Is Suddenly At The Center Of An SEC Debate
The SEC conversation has gotten louder this week, and Georgia is right in the middle of it after another rough stretch for the leagues biggest names. Recent losses by top teams such as Georgia and Texas have fueled the familiar debate over whether the conference is as deep and dominant as it has been billed, while fans and observers continue to argue over how much weight to give one conferences bruising schedule.
Dan Wolken pushed back on the idea that the SEC has somehow become ordinary, arguing the league is still punishingly difficult from week to week. From Georgias perspective, that only adds to the scrutiny, because every stumble by a contender seems to become evidence in someone elses argument about the conference, and the latest round of reactions has left plenty of room for the debate to keep going. [Read more 🡒]