MOLLY Qerim and Stephen A. Smith missed First Take on Thursday after a change to the ESPN schedule.
The star pair returned to set earlier this week after their respective vacations.
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But First Take underwent a major broadcast change to end the week.
The popular sports debate show was bumped to ESPN2.
And that meant neither Qerim or Smith were present, either in-person or virtually.
Former Fox Sports and NFL Network star Peter Schrager took up the role of host in Qerim’s absense.
And he had to react to some breaking news that happened early Thursday.
New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields was carted off after a leg injury in training camp.
Schrager welcomed viewers on ESPN2 in at 10 am ET with an update on the news.
He then asked his studio guests one by one for their take on Fields’ injury.
The former Good Morning Football host was joined by Kimberley A. Martin, Harry Douglas and Kevin Clark.
First Take was on ESPN2 to make way for live sports on the main channel.
ESPN was showing little league softball, which meant the studio-based program was moved.
Earlier this month, the show was taken off air completely for two days.
ESPN broadcast the entire Wimbledon Championships from London, England.
The tennis took priority on the main channel for the whole fortnight.
First Take aired on ESPN2 without Smith and Qerim for the majority of the time.
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But there were two days where it didn’t air at all.
ESPN instead put tennis on both of the channels to show quarterfinal action simultaneously from two courts.
Despite his absence from the show on Wednesday, Smith was still watching from home.
And he was forced to issue an apology to Louis Riddick after tagging the wrong account on X.
