First, Bruce Arians lied.
He was asked point-blank if this had to do with Antonio Brown’s ankle, and he said no. The second thing is the theory that AB was pouting about not getting enough targets for his bonus money can be thrown out of the window because why would he take himself out of the game if he was trying to get paid. That never made any sense either because the Bucs have a whole other game to play.
While the theatrics weren’t needed, it does shed light on why AB left it is because he was told to leave. With that being said if AB would have just sat on the bench, everything likely would have been fine, but he left because he was told to leave.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported Brown, who has been limited in practice and missed several weeks with an ankle injury, argued with Bruce Arians and the Bucs’ offensive staff over his health and refused to re-enter the game.
“What he told the staff, from what I understand, is that he was not going into the game because, in his mind, he did not feel he was healthy,” Rapoport said. “The response then from the offensive coaches and from Bruce Arians was, ‘If you are not gonna go into the game when we tell you to go into the game, then you cannot be here.’ At that point, they threw him off the sidelines and then cut him from the team.”
Since AB has a horrible reputation within the media, no one is going to give him the benefit of the doubt, but if this was any other player who told coaches he wasn’t healthy to play and they tried to force him into the game to potentially injure himself more, how would the media spin it?
Would they show sympathy or throw the player under the bus? You tell me?
Flip the pages for the NFL Network report on why AB left shirtless, the video of leaving and driving around NYC.