Antonio Brown Mishap

Antonio Brown has been all the talk of the NFL recently. On the second of January, the Jets played host to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Antonio Brown was making his second appearance on the field after missing eight straight games due to a lingering ankle injury and a suspension for presenting a fake vaccination card for vaccine validation. Brown was coming off a rather impressive appearance back to the field against the Carolina Panthers. He had 10 receptions for 101 yards, but his ankle pain flared up yet again.

Brown was a game day decision heading into MetLife stadium to face off against the Jets. Nonetheless, it was decided he would suit up to play just hours before the game. Brown had gotten a good amount of snaps in and tallied 3 receptions and 26 yards before making the personal decision he was indeed not healthy enough to continue.

Late in the third quarter, Brown took a seat on the bench and pleaded he was not healthy to continue to a few coaches, and he said he could not play any longer. A large argument between Brown and head coach Bruce Arians broke out on the sideline. Brown claims Arians was trying to “force” him to play. After refusing, Arians was furious. Brown made a statement the next day saying Arians got in his face and shouted, “YOU’RE DONE!” and ran his finger across his throat.

A viral video has been all over the internet showing what took place in the following moments. After the exchange with Coach Arians, Brown took off his pads and jersey, and flung them near one of the benches. Fellow receiver and teammate Mike Evans can be seen trying to stop Brown from making this scene, to which he eventually stops trying. Brown then took off his undershirt and gloves, and threw them into the crowd. He made a jog towards the tunnel through the endzone while waving to the fans, and then exited soon after.

Brown made a few statements in the following days saying that he is being accused of quitting on his team, which he claimed were all false. “I didn’t quit, I was cut.” It was not an official deal until January 6th that Brown had been officially released by the Buccaneers. 

In a press conference, also on the 6th of January, Arians came back with a statement of his own. He said that Brown at halftime was complaining about a lack of targets. Arians says they got it worked out, and in the third quarter Arians prepared the same personel Brown had been with the whole game. He turned and saw Brown was talking to another coach and refused to play. Arians claimed Brown had not spoken with any training staff about his injury previously, and to Arians, it was a surprise that he refused to play. Arians said he went over to Brown and told him, “If you won’t play, you can’t be here. You’re done, get the f— out.”

Brown posted screenshots of text messages with Coach Arians from Thursday December 30th, and on New Years Eve. Brown’s objective of this was to disprove Arians’ claim that he had failed to communicate his injury. In the text, it can be found that Brown texted Arians a picture of a trainer working on his feet and ankles. Brown said in his message, “I’m all in coach, really can’t get to full speed. I wanna win and I wanna be there. If I wake up tomorrow and feel better, I’ll be ready. I rolled it on the outside on a 2 point play. I want what’s best for the team. Let me know when you’re free, I’ll call you.” Arians acknowledged the text and said they would discuss it the next morning. 

Arians claimed he was never notified of his injury in the very same press conference on the 6th of January. In one of Brown’s statements, he claimed Arians lied about not knowing of his injury.

There is an uncovered mystery in the NFL, and whenever the full truth of it all is revealed, either Brown or the Buccaneers and Arians could be in big trouble.