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via Getty

via Getty

Stephen A Smith’s weekly presentation of his top 5 teams is a spectacle to watch in itself. His theatrical and humorous, but to-the-point explanations are a great watch. And so, as tradition, Smith released his list on Tuesday. Although some of the teams on the list are as expected, there are a couple of them which are confusing, even shocking for some in the NFL community.

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The Philadelphia Eagles occupy the top spot on the list, and rightfully so. Their 5-0 start is a testament to their very capable offense, led by Jalen Hurts, and a powerful defense. In Smith’s own words, “they’re the most complete team in the National Football League.”

After them, comes the Buffalo Bills. Their 4-1 record ties with the third-placed team on the list, the Kansas City Chiefs. But Smith places the Bills above, even though they completely routed Smith’s favorite team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Smith’s justification for the Bills being 2nd, is the presence of powerful players such as Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis in the offense.

USA Today via Reuters

The Chiefs come third solely because the only two major threats on the offense are Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Per Smith, Juju Smith-Schuster has been decent, and he acknowledges the presence of Mecole Hardman in the receiver corps. But he doesn’t rate their defense as much as the other teams above. Instead, he applauds the effective ball distribution Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy have set the offense to execute.

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“You’re looking at the Kansas City Chiefs, their offense, with Andy Reid, with Eric Bieniemy, still flowing, still doing their things, distributing the ball all over the place, and as a result, it almost makes them hard to stop at times,” he explained.

The top 5 list of Stephen A Smith has a couple of shockers in it

The next two are the more shocking of his picks this week. In 4th place, sits probably the team Stephen A Smith hates the most. The Dallas Cowboys, with their 4-1, perch on his “fluid” list with the league’s second-best defense. While Smith emphasizes that he does not expect this form to last, he has certainly drawn too many questioning eyes towards him for his apparent “hatred” for the Cowboys.

It wasn’t very long ago when the Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones called him a “fraud”, and said that deep down, Stephen A Smith was an ardent Cowboys fan. Although this was in a humorous setting, it is not odd at all to think about what Jones said. Jones believes Smith mocks the Cowboys only for garnering attention, and nothing else.

So, fans were right in asking, if Stephen A Smith hates America’s Team so much, surely he wouldn’t put them up on his list? Or maybe he was just being objective about his approach, looking at results and stats. Well, if that is his approach to all the teams on the list, the next team’s inclusion is definitely explainable. Because fans cannot possibly figure out any other reason.

Number 5 on Smith’s list is the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings are 4-1 this season, but fans will not consider it a moving argument. Their only remarkable win comes against the Aaron Rodgers-led Green Bay Packers, who they beat 23-7, right before the Eagles promptly destroyed them, 24-7. Their next three wins are all one-score margins, the largest being 7 against the Chicago Bears. But their performance in these games has not impressed fans very much.

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With Week 6 housing some power-packed matchups between teams from Smith’s list, it’ll be exciting to see who ends up where.

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Will the Chiefs knock the Bills down a peg? Or will the Bills trample over the Chiefs and make it 5-1? Will the Eagles prevail against America’s Team? Or will the Cowboys be the ones to tie their lasso around the high-flying Eagles? Lastly, but not at all the least exciting, will the Vikings be able to silence their haters by snatching a surprise win over at Miami?