The Tampa Bay Buccaneers knew what they were getting into with Antonio Brown.
Now they want us to believe in their side of the story. Now they want the most ridiculous event in the NFL this year to go away.
Sorry, bucko. Joke is on you.
No matter which side of the story you believe in – and let’s be honest, both stories are flawed – the logical conclusion is that Bucs deserves the headache of signing Brown, letting him toot a fake vaccine card and going back on their word about, that he’d be out of town if he screwed up once and gave him another chance, then kicked him off the field and by the team in the middle of a close game with the New York Jets last Sunday.
There’s a lot to unpack here, but let’s start with head coach Bruce Arians’ comments from the end of December, where the Bucs welcomed back to Brown after a three-game suspension for using a fake vaccine card.
A reporter asked Arians what he said when the team originally bought Brown in the mid-2020 season after an 8-match suspension for violating the league’s personal behavior policy (he was accused by two different women of sexual assault, with text messages, who proved he was trying to scare one of them afterwards).
These comments from Arians were as clear as the day he told Peter King, “He’s swearing until he’s gone.”
Brown screwed up, but Arians welcomed him back.
“History has changed since that statement,” Arians said as he welcomed Brown back to the team following the vaccine scandal. “A lot of things happened last year that I was very proud of him. I made a decision that this was best for our football team.”
But what about people who say you go back on your word, a journalist asked.
“I could give a (pronounced expression) what they think,” Arians said. “The only thing I care about is this football team and what’s best for us.”
And now we just have to move on so the Bucs can focus on defending their title?
That’s not how it works.
Do not care that Brown has been given too many chances to count, or that women have every right to be upset that he is still in the NFL at all, or that even the Patriots, a team that has often tried players , who was no longer welcome elsewhere and found success in doing so, released Brown within two weeks of signing him in 2019.
The focus of this story should be on the Bucs and how they should be held accountable.
Instead, all we’re got from the Arians and the team is a big part of the blame on Brown for not “following protocols” about telling the team about an ankle injury.
Brown’s story is different.
In a statement released by his lawyer on Wednesday, Brown explained that he had been dealing with an ankle injury and that Arians knew about it. He later released text messages with Arians acknowledging that Brown was injured in the week leading up to the game. The team admitted that they knew of the injury on Thursday.
The Arians then said Brown and receiver Mike Evans were on “pitch count” in Sunday’s game due to their injuries. But because Brown never went through the right channels by warning the coaches about his injury on the sidelines, his refusal to go into the game and play while he was injured was met with Arians asking him to “get (the statement) out. from here.”
So Brown took off his shirt and pillows, walked off the track and jogged lightly for a few seconds as he disappeared into the tunnel.
According to the recipient, he then received an emergency MRI on Monday morning, which was read by Dr. Martin O’Malley at a hospital in New York, which confirmed bone fragments, a torn ligament and cartilage loss in his ankle.
Bucs claimed Thursday that Brown refused to undergo further testing.
Who to believe?
What about none of them?
Brown has a history of being deceptive, violent and generally a pain in the butt to work with.
The Arians have a history of going back on their word, admitting he will do anything to win and claiming he did not want Brown on the team for several months in 2020, despite Tom Brady lobbying for the receiver joined him in Tampa.
It’s a clown show, and the Bucs deserve it.
Although Brown was frustrated that he was not getting enough goals and the team would not guarantee $ 2 million in incentives before the game – a ridiculous thing to ask, and something professional sports teams almost never do – can Bucs really complain?
They knew what they were signing up for.
Bucs overlooked his domestic violence incidents. They overlooked his forgery of a vaccine card that put his teammates and coaches at risk.
But when he met his head coach up on the sidelines, Arians suddenly got enough.
Hov hov.
.
