The Antonio Brown Drama

As you all know by now Antonio Brown pulled another stunt on the field Sunday against the New York Jets. The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR took off his pads, jersey and gloves and left the sideline during the third quarter of the game. Brown then was spotted waiting for a ride to pick him up from Metlife Stadium. Now for those of you who have seen the past few years of AB you know, this is more of the same with him, but is he to shoulder all the blame?

The setup

Why did Brown walk off the field? Was it because he was benched and therefore could not get his contract incentives? Was it because Brady was ignoring him on the field? Or could it be because the Bucs were losing to the Jets? It was none of the above. As it has now been reported Bucs coach Bruce Arians wanted Brown to go back in the game, Brown refused because he said he had an ankle injury. Arians told him if he didn’t go in he was off the team. That is when Brown did what he did.

Who is to Blame?

For those of you saying that Brown should be excused because he has something wrong with his mental health, get out of here with that. You can say that he has something wrong with him mentally, but do not excuse what he did. Brown has done a lot of this type of stuff in the past. Look at his time with the Steelers, Bills, and Raiders. You don’t remember his time with the Bills? My point exactly. He was released by the Patriots in 2019 because he had a sexual assault charge on him. He never went to court because he settled out. Look at just this year, faking his vaccination card which is a felony.

Then you have Sunday. I understand if someone has an injury, but the fact of the matter is he wasn’t getting looked at by the trainers or any other medical staff. He was on the sidelines and was fine when Arians came up to him to tell him to go in. Brown’s ankle seemed to be fine on his way to the locker room when he was jumping up and down.

All of this gets excused because he has a mental illness? No, he could have taken the Calvin Ridley route and taken time off. I think everyone would have applauded Brown if this was the decision he made. He didn’t and acted out and now he should be out of the NFL.

Brown is not all to blame here though. Arians is just as guilty for enabling him. Arians said when he signed AB that he would be gone if he did anything wrong. Why did AB not get released for committing a felony? Arians needed good, healthy players. The last week of AB’s suspension Chris Godwin was injured for the rest of the season. Arians still brought him back and allowed AB to act like that. Bruce Arians should take some flack for this as he was the one who didn’t stop this.