Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown stopped by Thursday’s edition of PFT Live and made it clear that he’s still upset about the hit by Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict that left him with a concussion in the playoffs as well as Bengals cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones’ reaction to the play.
Jones accused Brown of faking the injury, saying at different points that the wideout should be nominated for an Oscar and a Grammy for his performance. Jones apologized on social media when Brown missed the next week’s game against the Broncos because of the injury and Brown said he received a text from Jones, although that wasn’t enough to clear the air.
“I lost tremendous respect for him when he went on record saying that I winked at him,” Brown said. “I was unconscious, I didn’t really even remember what had transpired so for him to say something like that is totally a coward, it’s idiotic.”
Brown hasn’t heard from Burfict and it’s safe to say that there’s not much respect for the Bengals linebacker, who was suspended for the first three games of next season for repeated violations of player safety rules a few days after the game.
“Nothing at all from that guy,” Brown said. “You know what kind of guy he is. What type of player he is. He’s a real unprofessional-like player. An undisciplined player. You saw the hit against me. Late, unnecessary. … It caught up with them and we were able to win the game.”
Brown added that he hopes the Steelers and Bengals aren’t scheduled to play each other until after Burfict’s suspension comes to an end. He thinks it makes for “a better game” for the fans if everyone is on the field for the game and it’s a good bet that the matchup will find its way to prime time should the schedule makers put the game sometime in the final 14 weeks of the regular season.
