Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown saw his first game action since Oct. 10 on Sunday, easily pacing Tampa's injury-decimated offense with 10 catches for 105 yards in the NFC South-clinching victory over the Panthers in Charlotte.
After the strong performance, in which Brown was targeted a whopping 15 times by quarterback Tom Brady, Brown made an apparently unexpected appearance to field postgame questions from reporters.
After first deflecting a question about the recent suspension that cost him three games, Brown proceeded to chastise the media for creating "drama" with respect to the ban, which was handed down after he was found to have submitted a fake vaccination card.
“I don’t want to talk about that. You guys are all drama. It’s all about football. We’re going to talk about Carolina, or I don’t want to talk to you,” Brown said, according to Greg Auman of The Athletic.
"I’m just here to do my job," Brown continued, echoing formers Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch. "I can’t control what people write, how people try to frame me, people try to bring me down. Life is about obstacles and persevering and doing what’s right … I’m standing before you guys grateful, humble, thankful."
Asked about the ankle injury that had initially caused his absence, Brown again circled back to his critique of journalists.
“It’s a lot of drama you guys create, a lot of drama people create who want stuff from me. That’s a part of life, a part of being in the position. I can’t control what people want from me, what people write about me.”
Meanwhile, Bucs coach Bruce Arians seemed relieved to have Brown back in the mix, following injuries to wide receivers Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, and running back Leonard Fournette.
Asked about AB's massive target share after Sunday's win over Carolina, Arians told Peter King of NBC Sports that the game situation called for it, and he had no issue with it.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Arians said. “That’s who we had today, and if they were going to play single-high coverage, there was never a doubt in my mind.”
Last year, when the Bucs signed Brown, Arians famously declared that the four-time All-Pro wideout would be "gone" if he screwed up just one time.
Yet, there he was on Sunday, targeted 15 times just a few weeks after the embarrassment of the fake card incident.
Asked about it after the game by King, Arians said Brown's role on last year's Super Bowl team -- he was a "model citizen" -- helped to start a "new history" for the troubled wide receiver.
“When you and I talked last year, we were talking on old experiences with Antonio. When he came back to us, he was a model citizen. There was a new history. I really loved the way he tried to fit in, worked his way in and gave us everything he had to go to the Super Bowl. My whole attitude on him changed. I saw him trying to be a better human being. So I’ve got a totally different relationship than when it was when you and I talked last year.”
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