We are now three days removed from Antonio Brown’s in-game meltdown. And as more information becomes available, it’s apparent the Buccaneers are the party who should be vilified, not the troubled wideout.
Everybody should take back their jokes and cute memes.
The scene Sunday was spectacular: Brown stripped out of his uniform in the middle of the game and then showboated his way to the Buccaneers’ locker room. After that, he took an Uber home, and proceeded to plug his new Netflix show. Brown released a new song as well.
After the game, Bruce Arians, who called Brown a “model citizen” earlier this season, coldly said Brown is “no longer a Buc. End of story.” But that was a lie. Brown is still on the Buccaneers’ roster today, and according to recent reports, his outburst may have been justified.
On Monday, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport said Brown’s frustration stemmed from Buccaneers coaches ignoring his concerns about an ankle injury, and demanding he re-enter the game. Brown has missed five games this season due to his ankle injury, and was also absent from practice last Thursday and Friday.
Somehow, Arians failed to mention those details during his postgame tough guy act.
Then on Tuesday, Tampa Bay Times reporter Rick Stroud added more context to the situation. Apparently, Brown’s confidantes pushed him to get evaluated by a top surgeon unaffiliated with the Buccaneers. The surgeon performed an MRI, which confirmed Brown is in “serious pain.”
Arians denies Brown mentioned his ankle, but as we know, NFL teams aren’t honest actors when it comes to divulging injury information, or looking out for the health of their players. The Bucs’ head coach has spoke more compassionately about Brown in recent days, saying he “wishes him well,” and hopes he can get the help he needs. Conveniently, Arians has failed to mention the Buccaneers are in position to provide Brown with support, given they are his employer.
But that’s not how it works in the callous world of pro football. The Buccaneers signed Brown last year with full knowledge about his history of buffoonish and alleged criminal behavior. Yet, they were willing to overlook Brown’s inglorious resume, because he could help them win a Super Bowl. Just last week, Brown caught 10 passes in Tampa Bay’s victory over the Panthers.
Now Arians wants to cut bait and act like Brown isn’t the club’s responsibility. He’s just an outrageous actor who committed the cardinal sin of quitting on his team. Buh-bye.
But Tom Brady, one of Brown’s best friends and biggest supporters, doesn’t see it that way. The greatest of all-time responded to Brown’s situation with compassion. “Everybody should hopefully do what they can to help him in ways that he really needs it,” Brady told reporters. “We all love him. We care about him deeply. We want to see him at his best.”
As Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel notes, Brady has seen teammates struggle before. Three people with whom he’s played — Junior Seau, Aaron Hernandez, cornerback Philip Adams — have committed suicide. Just think about that. Each was later found to suffer from advanced CTE.
Of course, Hernandez and Adams tragically took other people’s lives on the way to their early graves. Hernandez was convicted of first-degree murder, and may have killed two additional men. Police say Adams killed six people last year in a murderous rampage before killing himself.
It’s hard to imagine those stories weren’t on Brady’s mind when he spoke about Brown’s situation, even just a little bit.
There is a clear correlation between Vontaze Burfict’s vicious hit on Brown during the 2016 NFL playoffs and his most egregious behavior. Over the last three years, Brown has been accused of sexual assault, domestic violence and charged with burglary and battery. He’s refused to pay personal assistants and used a fake vaccination card. All of these misdeeds, alleged and confirmed, are out in the open.
But the Buccaneers signed him. They were happy to ignore all of his troubles as long as he could help them win football games. But then Brown apparently didn’t want to play through a severe injury, and the team’s smear campaign began.
Shame on us for buying into it.
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Herbstreit the hypocrite: ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit railed this week against college players for sitting out meaningless bowl games, questioning their love of football. Well, if Herbstreit doesn’t think this generation of college football players love the game, maybe he should retire and stop making millions off of their unpaid labor.
There’s no entity more responsible for diluting the meaning of college football bowl games than ESPN. The network airs all sorts of bizarre contests, gladly taking in the advertising money. Also, how come Herbstreit and other analysts don’t criticize millionaire coach’s love of the game when they take new jobs ahead of bowl games? Both Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly left their top-10 teams before their bowl games this season.
I’m still waiting for Herbstreit’s rant about that.
Nothing wrong with withholding MVP votes from a “jerk”: An NFL writer named Herb Arkush says he won’t give Rodgers an MVP vote, because he’s a “jerk” and “bad guy.” And that’s fine. Some people insist you must separate the person from the player when voting for honors such as MVP or Hall of Fame. But the mind doesn’t work that way. Every vote, from MVP awards to presidential elections, is subjective. Rodgers probably deserves to win MVP again this season. But if one writer can’t bring himself to do it, so what?
Lockout crushing the Red Sox’ momentum: ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports there haven’t been any substantial conversations between MLB and the players’ union over the last month to end the lockout. Swell! The Red Sox undoubtedly regained a lot of lost momentum during their ALCS run last season. Fenway Park appeared to be louder than it has been in years.
But now, we’ve gone a month with no hot stove, and Spring Training is in jeopardy of being delayed. MLB continues to be its own worst enemy.
