Antonio Brown did something never before seen in an NFL game on Sunday. In the middle of a crucial game against the New York Jets, Brown took off his pads, threw his gloves into the stands, and then ran across the field bare-chested, giving the fans a "Peace Out" sign.
This is just the latest in a long line of idiotic moves by Brown, and every time Brown pulls another one of these stupid, public stunts the same tired narrative gets thrown out there by people.
I am tired of the "Vontaze Burfict" takes that circulate on the internet after Brown's mid-game antics. It's so tired of it. Antonio Brown has always been a headcase. His issues have existed for a long time before he was knocked out by Burfict. Brown has been difficult since he started playing football. He played high school football.
When Brown was accused of sexual assault and rape in the fall of 2015, Larry Moss Jr., who helped raise Brown between the ages of 5 and 17, said he was surprised that it took so long. He has been this way since he was 12 years old. In the piece by USA Today, Moss stated that he knew Brown was abusive towards women, and that Brown just feels like he can have whatever he wants. It doesn't surprise me that this kind of allegation came out about him. We, the fans, know better than the man who raised Brown that Moss knew about this.
The only football scholarship Brown received in high school was to Florida International University. Did Brown accept the chance to turn his life around and become a better person? No. Brown got into an altercation with a security guard at the university before he ever took the field. How bad was the fight? It was bad enough for the school to expel him. Brown was told by school officials that they were going to say he was never there.
After this, Brown was troublesome for college football programs that gave him a chance. Brown was given a chance to be a walk-on at Central Michigan University, but he would show up late to meetings and practices. He had an issue with discipline before he was in the NFL.
Brown's character, attitude, lack of work ethic, and constant lapse in concentration were all listed as his biggest concerns by several NFL draft scouts. That sounds like Antonio Brown. Brown now has the ability to publicly broadcast his stupidity and concentration errors. Brown didn't need to act out to get attention when he was being labeled the best receiver in the league, but after Smith-Schuster was labeled the team's most valuable player, he realized he was starting to fall off.
This is just speculation. I am not Brown's therapist. I am not a character consultant. I don't know much about the subject. I know that blaming Burfict, the guy who tried to stop Brown from attacking Mike Mayock, is false.
There are repetitive blows to the head and repeated episodes of concussion that are caused by the disease. Burfict wasn't the cleanest player. You don't need to be a genius to know that. These jokes blaming Burfict for whatever mental illness Brown is suffering from miss the point. It is time to stop.
