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A week fraught with difficulty and sadness finally ended for Carolina Panthers receiver Steve Smith on Sunday.
Smith played in the Carolina Panthers' 20-9 loss against the Buffalo Bills at Bank of America Stadium with the memory of his late junior college coach weighing on his mind. Robert Taylor, Smith's junior college coach at Santa Monica (Calif.) College, passed away Thursday.
"I had a rough week," Smith said as tears welled in his eyes. "I lost a father figure in my life. I think the rest of the year is going to be really difficult. He's a guy who invested a lot of quality love into this game."
Taylor, one of the football coaching community's most respected figures, also coached Cincinnati's Chad Ochocinco at Santa Monica. Smith, who grew up in a tough neighborhood in Los Angeles, has said Taylor essentially saved his life.
They had an extremely close relationship. Taylor lived 20 miles from Smith when he was at Santa Monica. Once, when Smith was having personal problems, Taylor left his home at 6:45 a.m. four days in a row to drive Smith to school.
When Smith signed a shoe contract with Reebok after turning pro, the deal included providing shoes and gloves to the Santa Monica Corsairs.
"He was really influential," said Smith. "He was a father figure to me. And I say that with no disrespect to my father."
Sunday, Smith spoke after having one of his more productive games of the season, catching six passes for 99 yards. It was a far cry from last week, when he said he was no longer an "asset" to the Panthers after a one-catch, 4-yard day in a victory against Tampa Bay.
"The things I said after the Tampa Bay game that were in the media, the conversations that were had, the articles that were (written) – that's the glass house I live in," Smith said. "That's my responsibility. When I open my mouth, I have to deal with it."
Smith still doesn't have a touchdown catch this season.
"The way I feel today is the way I felt after the last game," he said. "I'm not excited about it. You want to win and you want to be involved. We still didn't win, so I'm not happy about it."
