ESPN has generally succeeded in blending former athletes and analysts from the journalism world in its increasingly debate-based programming. Those two worlds don't always perfectly mesh, however, as was clear during Friday's episode of Get Up, in a segment about the Eagles' tight win over the Cowboys in the NFL opener on Thursday night.

The segment centered on the teams' star wide receivers. On one side, Philadelphia's A.J. Brown was held to one catch for eight yards, which was made on his only target of the game with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. On the other, Dallas's CeeDee Lamb, who put up a gaudy statline (seven receptions, 110 yards) but had some brutal drops late in the close game.

Schrager rejected the idea that Brown, with his one catch, outplayed Lamb, the game's most productive offensive player, while the three former NFL players-turned-analysts—Dan Orlovsky, Ryan Clark and Tedy Bruschi—adamently disagreed because Brown's Eagles won the game. The discussion, in which the panelists mostly yelled over each other, largely devolved into Clark vs. Schrager, before Clark called into question his colleague's football bona fides.

"The thing is this though, and we shouldn't do this on TV and I apologize if people think this is rude. That's the non-player in you," Clark said.

"Don’t belittle me like that, I can come and say as three ex-players are saying one thing, and give an alternative perspective that maybe CeeDee Lamb did play well," Schrager responded.

Clark then accused Schrager of cutting him off, before contiuing on with his former player perspective.

It was an awkward interaction to watch play out, and Clark seemed to know he was in the wrong before even bringing up that Schrager didn't play the game. Hours later, in the middle of his efforts to live tweet Friday night's Chargers vs. Chiefs game, Clark issued an apology to Schrager for what was said on Get Up, and also things said off of the air that viewers are not privy to.

ESPN has focused more on big personalities—most of them former athletes—as it has built out its roster in recent years. Schrager, who recently came over from NFL Network, is an exception, and the network has reportedly considered building a show around him.

Athletes dismissing non-athletes' takes on the grounds that they did not play undercuts the entire idea of having them on the same panel, so it makes sense that the powers that be were not happy with this moment from Clark, who has not shied away from stretching for some wild takes in recent days.

More NFL on Sports Illustrated


This article was originally published on www.si.com as ESPN's Ryan Clark Apologizes After Awkward 'Non-Player' Comments About Peter Schrager.