The never-ending cycle of drama perpetuated and perpetrated by Antonio Brown continued over the last 24 hours.
Last night the troubled Bucs receiver issued a statement through his attorney regarding the situation at the Jets game this past Sunday and his bizarre reaction.
This morning he turned his attention to Tom Brady and his trainer, Alex Guerrero. Brown posted texts between himself and Guerrero regarding training sessions on Twitter for all to see.
Guerrero’s professional and polite response triggered Brown to essentially accuse him of robbery.
That should be the final straw for Tampa Bay and every NFL team.
In his statement, Brown claimed he was too injured to play on Sunday and that his coach tried to force him to return to the game. According to Brown, that’s when the situation escalated.
“He then ordered me to get on the field. I said ‘Coach, I can’t.’ He didn’t call for medical attention. Instead, he shouted at me ‘YOU’RE DONE!’ while he ran his finger across his throat. Coach was telling me that if I didn’t play hurt, then I was done with the Bucs.”
In the statement, Brown put the blame squarely on the Bucs while, as his norm, he played the victim.
He accused the team of injecting him with a “powerful and sometimes dangerous painkiller that the NFLPA has warned against using,” painting them as the reason for his demise.
At this point, if anyone still believes Brown, you’re playing yourself royally.
First off, this statement was definitely NOT written by Brown. That’s obvious. While the “Woe is me” tone and allegations against a team are staples of his media strategy, the vocabulary definitely is not. All you have to do is read his social media posts in general to recognize that.
Brown writes in shorter, cryptic and more “creative” tones.
This statement was grammatically proper and structured to address key points that can be used in any future grievances he will most certainly file with the NFLPA and against the Tampa Bay organization.
AB and his attorney, the latter who actually released the statement, crafted a well-written document that makes Brown the victim and the Bucs the wrongful aggressor. It overemphasizes the pain he was experiencing and how his past shouldn’t demean or characterize his present.
He strategically admitted that he has flaws and he’s trying to be better, but that the Bucs dehumanized him and treated him like an animal.
“I acknowledge my past. But my past does not make me a second class citizen,” wrote Brown.
“They [the Bucs] threw me out like an animal and I refused to wear their brand on my body, so I took my jersey off.”
This is Brown talking and a communications professional translating.
And it’s all a game.
Brown is a master at playing others, especially when he’s at fault. As I wrote previously, he did it to the Steelers and Raiders, and he did it to the Bucs.
He craves attention and understands the power of the spotlight. He harnasses the power of social media to fuel his persona and antics.
Brown threatened, and later apologized to, The Undefeated’s Jesse Washington after Washington’s story on Brown dropped.
He neglected to pay his live-in chef, after which he exposed that Brown had a fake vaccination card. The NFL suspended him for three games for violating the league’s health and safety protocols.
An hour after he quit on his Bucs’ teammates, he dropped a rap track.
AB creates and attracts drama and then lets you know who’s to blame for it.
Now he’s taken aim at Tom Brady, the man who tried to help him and who came to his defense.
“Imagine your QB trainer charges you 100k then doing no work must be was a part of these guys plans all along,” tweeted Brown.
Some express sympathy for Brown. They say that he needs help or that his actions are due to CTE. The former is true and the latter is something that can’t currently be diagnosed in living players.
But his talents overshadow his antics, so teams enable and perpetuate his behavior by signing him. That gives him more opportunities to shine and eventually humiliate the very organization which gave him yet another chance.
At this point to blindly continue to defend him is wrong, especially after the last 24 hours.
Brown has no remorse. In his mind, everyone is a target for his blame game regardless of what they’ve done for him.
He attacked the Bucs, the team that signed him after the Patriots cut him after sexual assault allegations surfaced. Brown accused the Bucs of ignoring his pain, pain that was so insufferable that he could quit during a game, do jumping jacks as he ridiculously jogged off the field, wear pointy shoes instead of something more comforting to his ankle while waiting for car service, make it to a Nets game the next night in Brooklyn and then party with rapper Fabolous that same night.
These are the actions of a narcissist and selfish hustler whose sole purpose is self-gain at the expense of others. He unabashedly admitted that at the conclusion of his statement.
“Once my surgery is complete, I’ll be back to 100% and looking forward to next season. Business gonna be BOOMIN!”
If people can’t recognize Antonio Brown’s game now, then they’re simply suckers on his BOOMIN list.
