{"id":19614,"date":"2017-01-18T08:58:43","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T08:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=19614"},"modified":"2017-01-18T09:01:31","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T09:01:31","slug":"antonio-brown-mike-tomlin-video-controversy-derails-afc-title-game-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/sports\/antonio-brown-mike-tomlin-video-controversy-derails-afc-title-game-clash.html","title":{"rendered":"Antonio Brown, Mike Tomlin video controversy derails AFC title game clash"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Antonio Brown, Mike Tomlin video controversy derails AFC title game clash<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Antonio Brown, Mike Tomlin video controversy derails AFC title game clash:-<\/strong> The uproar over Antonio Brown\u2019s Facebook Live video continued for a second day Tuesday, and odds are it will rage for the rest of the week. There will be Brown\u2019s mea culpa and his response to Mike Tomlin\u2019s criticism and punishment. Then his teammates will be asked to weigh in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in New England, Patriots coach Bill Belichick and his players will be asked no less than a million times how they feel about being called \u201ca——-.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It will be an echo chamber of nonsense, the leadup to the AFC Championship Game hijacked by a stunt even a seventh-grader would consider lame.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe realize that there are four teams working this week, and there are 28 watching. We realize there are the same amount of television and radio shows that there normally are,\u201d Tomlin said Tuesday. \u201cSo there is a certain intensity that comes with being in this tournament. They have to fill that air time with something.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And therein lies the problem with Brown\u2019s lapse in judgment.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Tomlin said to his team when he thought they were behind closed doors \u2013 or closed screens, in this case \u2013 is no different than what\u2019s heard in locker rooms across every sport. Coaches and players are passionate about the games they play, and nothing gets them fired up more than an \u201cus against them\u201d mentality.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for Tomlin\u2019s profanity, that is locker room talk. And a mild version of it at that.<\/span><\/p>\n

But by broadcasting Tomlin\u2019s speech without his coach\u2019s knowledge — as a player was heard warning his teammates to keep a low profile on social media, no less! — Brown took the focus off his team and made the biggest game of the Steelers season all about him. Instead of stories about matchups and legacies and Pittsburgh\u2019s rebound from a mid-season slump, it is now all about Brown.<\/span><\/p>\n

Had this been a first offense, Tomlin might not have been so livid. But this has become a pattern for Brown, who might as well have recurring payments set up to the league office for as many times as he\u2019s been fined for end-zone celebrations and uniform code violations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brown is a spectacularly talented receiver, finishing second in the league in both receptions (106) and touchdowns (12), and fourth in yards per game (85.6). That\u2019s even with Tomlin resting him, Ben Roethlisberger and Le\u2019Veon Bell in the season finale.<\/span><\/p>\n

But too often it\u2019s Brown\u2019s antics that get the attention, and it\u2019s that aspect that seems to infuriate Tomlin the most.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI will be bluntly honest here. It was foolish of him to do that. It was selfish of him to do that. It was inconsiderate of him to do that,\u201d Tomlin told reporters Tuesday, saying Brown is likely to face punishment from the league in addition to the unspecified discipline he imposes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut larger than that, he has to grow from this. He has to,\u201d Tomlin said. \u201cHe works extremely hard. He is extremely talented. Those things get minimized with incidences such as this. You wear on your teammates when they routinely have to answer questions about things that aren\u2019t preparation or football-related.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a great player. He is a hardworking player. He is respected, largely, in the locker room for those things. But incidences such as this, don\u2019t help him in that regard,\u201d Tomlin added. \u201cThat\u2019s just the reality of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tomlin then raised some eyebrows by making a reference to Brown\u2019s future with the Steelers, suggesting that his immaturity could jeopardize it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why oftentimes you see great players move around from team to team,\u201d Tomlin said. \u201cAnd I definitely don\u2019t want that to be his story.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Harsh, but true. Think Terrell Owens played for five different teams during his 15-year career because he wanted to see the country? Or that Randy Moss was trying to collect as many team jerseys as he could?<\/span><\/p>\n

Brown isn\u2019t volatile, like T.O. and Moss were. But the NFL has little patience for outsized personalities \u2013 it\u2019s not called the No Fun League for nothing — and a sliding scale for the acts of immaturity it will tolerate. By any measure, Brown\u2019s video tested those limits.<\/span><\/p>\n

That a video of a locker room speech will wind up being a theme of the AFC Championship is ridiculous. But so, too, the idea that Brown could do this and not find himself at the center of another firestorm.<\/span><\/p>\n

A player can be a star in the NFL or a sideshow. It\u2019s up to Brown to decide which he wants to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/columnist\/nancy-armour\/2017\/01\/17\/nfl-steelers-mike-tomlin-antonio-brown-facebook-video-patriots-chiefs\/96687912\/<\/span><\/div>\n

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