The Dallas Cowboys got thoroughly outplayed by the Jacoby Brissett-led Arizona Cardinals in front of a national audience on Monday Night Football. It was the kind of prime-time embarrassment that you can picture noted Cowboys hater Stephen A. Smith reveling in.

And then, like a vision from a fever dream, the image of Smith sitting next to Jerry Jones in the owner’s suite at AT&T Stadium appeared. That pair sitting awkwardly side-by-side in silence while the Cowboys played their worst game of the season. In Dallas. On ESPN. That handshake. Smith’s sudden departure immediately following Jake Ferguson’s drive-killing fumble. It was all too jarring.

Veteran announcer Joe Buck simply had to call attention to this thing that just shouldn’t exist. “They say a picture is worth one billion words. There it is… Stephen A. is like, ‘Alright, good luck. I'm outta here. I'm gonna go post on social media.’”

Has anyone, anywhere at any point in time looked half as uncomfortable as Stephen A. Smith does in this clip?

Jerry and Stephen A. watched the Cowboys’ MNF flop together

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Arizona Cardinals linebacker Josh Sweat (10) sacks Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) in the second half at AT&T Stadium.
Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Smith has been extremely forthcoming about his disdain for the team’s fans: “Their fans are truly the most nauseating, disgusting fanbase in American history.” And he unabashedly enjoys seeing Dallas lose: “I don’t know if anything brings me more pleasure than seeing Cowboys fans miserable.”

But Jones found some common ground with the brash take-haver. In an odd moment of game recognizing game, Jones told Smith that he purposefully creates controversy for attention. “What you do, Stephen A., is a little bit of my philosophy. Controversy… When it gets slow, I stir that sh-t up,” Jones said when the pair appeared on SiriusXM NFL Radio earlier on Monday.

Apparently the admission resonated with Smith, because later that night the two met up and watched the game. Together. Until Smith couldn’t take it anymore and just left.

It was a strange sight while it lasted. And an unsuspecting NFL audience should never be exposed to it again.