The January explosion between Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians and Buccaneers receiver Antonio Brown wasn’t the first time coach and player had an issue between them. As explained by Brown during an appearance on The Pivot Podcast with Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor, the issues first arose when both men were in Pittsburgh.
“[Clark] and I know how Arians used to treat me,” Brown said. “You and I know that Bruce Arians said that A.B. isn’t smart enough to play the ‘X’ position. You and I know that Ben Roethlisberger had to say enough is enough and tell Bruce Arians that we have to play this guy. The public doesn’t know that.”
The public now does. And it makes easier to understand why Arians originally didn’t want Brown in Tampa. Eventually, Arians relented because (obviously) Tom Brady wanted Brown. And then Arians basically fired Brown during a game, as Brown tells it.
“Bruce Arians has to respect me as a player,” Brown said to Clark. “I’m in the middle of a game, how you gonna tell me get the ‘F’ out of here? You know how it is in a game with testosterone and how you act on game day. You probably would have slapped him. If I can’t play, I can’t play. It’s a deltoid ligament. . . . I have to have surgery in the next couple weeks. . . . I know I make football look easy and I know I could run 17 or 18 miles per hour, which is not normal with a hurt ankle, but I can’t do that over the course of a year. I’ll kill myself. I don’t have no mental health problem. I’m just about respect. I stand on principle.”
Brown also suggested that he possibly will sign with the Cowboys for 2022. Few will be ready to buy that one. Before Brown can do anything, he needs to get his ankle repaired.
