22 Years After Spitting Scandal, Steve Smith Sr. Doesn’t Hold Back on Jalen Carter & Dak Prescott’s Incident

The 2025 season didn’t even need a kickoff to serve drama on a silver platter. Jalen Carter got tossed before the first offensive snap after he spat on Dak Prescott. That moment? Already etched deep into NFL lore. Funny enough, it wasn’t the first time the league saw this kind of chaos. Flashback to 2003: the same ugly scene unfolded, only in reverse. Back then, the spitting controversy didn’t kick off a season—it closed one.

We’re talking about the 2003 Super Bowl between the Panthers and the Patriots. The former Carolina wideout, Steve Smith Sr., accused the Patriots’ corner Tyrone Poole of spitting in his face. Fast forward to now, and when the news broke about Carter spitting on Prescott, Smith had only one thought: “Damn, I got to talk to Dan Patrick tomorrow,” the Panthers’ legend said on Friday, September 4, on the Dan Patrick Show.

When Patrick asked about his thoughts on Carter’s controversial action during Thursday Night’s game, Smith straight-up ranted, “You know, I’ll be honest,” Smith said. “I’m not sure what brings about any man to feel that it’s okay to spit on another individual.” There’s no denying that Carter spitting on Prescott had Smith taking a serious trip down memory lane. Back in 2003, Smith was a huge reason the Panthers made it to the Super Bowl, racking up 88 catches for 1,110 yards and 7 touchdowns during the regular season.

Then came the big game, and things got messy. As Carolina was getting ready to punt in the second quarter, Poole allegedly spat right in Smith’s face—at least, that’s how the Panthers’ legend tells it. It’s wild when you think about it: two seasons, more than two decades apart, linked by the same jaw-dropping, eyebrow-raising spitting moment that had Steve Smith Sr. thinking. “But you know, I’ve been thinking long and hard about which angle you would come at this with,” he added, addressing Carter’s actions.

“…First, if you break it down, he’s (Carter) a damn good football player and is about to get paid, right? He’s the difference maker, and we saw it immediately in his absence. But he got kicked out of the game before the game technically even got started, right? So, I wasn’t there. So, I don’t really know what I would do. And I’m glad because I think it’s pretty gross to spit on someone. And I’m not really sure what the context is.”

He went on, “Let’s say hypothetically, Dak says something super duper inappropriate,” Smith added. “Man, in my list of reactions, which could be a short list or a long list. Let’s say a thousand things I can respond to. One of them may be thumping someone in Adam’s apple. But spitting is not on my list of a thousand of my natural reactions when someone says something to me that I dislike.”

Well, speaking of the context, the Eagles’ medical staff attended to an injured player during the initial moments of the game. Meanwhile, the camera caught Carter approaching the Cowboys’ huddle, staring deep into Dak’s eyes. One thing led to another, and the 24-year-old DT spat on the quarterback. However, the further video evidence exposed a different tale in this saga.

Who spat first: Dak Prescott or Jalen Carter

Initially, it was unclear what went down during the first quarter between Dak Prescott and Jalen Carter. The early reports suggested that Carter was the only one who spat on the Cowboys’ quarterback before eventually being ejected by the officials. However, NBC reviewed the incident, and the new evidence confirmed that it was Prescott who first spat on the Eagles’ DT. The reason?

Prescott was supposed to explain the reason, and he sure did. “I guess I needed to spit and I wasn’t going to spit on my linemen. I just spit ahead and he goes, ‘You’re trying to spit on me?” He said. “At that point I felt like he was insulting me. I wouldn’t spit on somebody. I’m definitely not trying to spit on you. Like, we’re about to play a game. And he just spit on me in that moment and it was more of a surprise than anything.”

Right after that went down, the QB addressed the issue to the nearby official. Of course, Prescott didn’t realize that Carter would be ejected, but the refs drew the card and asked the Eagles’ DT to leave the field on an unsportsmanlike penalty. “It was a mistake that happened on my side, and it just won’t happen again,” Carter said after the game.

“I feel bad for my teammates and the fans out there. I’m doing it for them. … Not being able to start the game even, finish the game, it f—ed me up, but we’re going to get it better. It won’t happen again. I can make that promise.” That said, the debate over who spat first went on well after the game. But as Steve Smith Sr. pointed out, that didn’t make either of them any less in the wrong.