Landon Buford
Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians and Tom Brady spoke to Antonio Brown’s departure from the team after Sunday’s incident in which Brown left the field drastically mid-match against the New York Jets.
The team released Brown on Thursday, shortly after the Superbowl winning wide receiver released a statement that he would have to undergo surgery for an ankle wound that, according to him, kept him out of the game against the Jets.
Even though Brown said he “could not make football plays on that ankle,” Arians told the media on Thursday that he was “never notified of” the injury while he explained what happened during the third quarter of Sunday’s game.
“Just to clear you up on some things that happened: at no point and time during that game did he ever ask the trainer or doctor about his ankle,” Arians said during a press conference.
“That’s the normal protocol; you go through the protocols during games. I was never notified of it. So obviously, that was disturbing when we were looking for him to go back into the game. He was very upset at halftime about who was getting targeted; got that calmed down, players took care of that.”
Brown then released a statement through his attorney.
“First, they cut me. Now, they cage me. Instead of asking how I felt or getting to the bottom of it, the team texted my camp promoting a totally false narrative that I randomly acted out without any explanation.”
On Friday morning, Antonio Brown was on Clubhouse in the Tapped In Daily room sharing his side of the story.
“It’s all about being human and doing the right things for yourself. Something people can judge your reactions to things they don’t understand. Hopefully we are giving clarity and the results of putting your life on the line, and sacrificing your health to play. Being misconducted to being kicked off the field and told to get out of here,” said Brown.
“Put yourself in that position as a normal human being and not an NFL player being at your job and someone telling you to get the hell out of here. In the mist of a football moment where you are already frustrated that you can’t play and go. Then someone tells you can’t go get out of here. I’m feeling good things happen for a reason, but sometimes thing in life aren’t fair it’s all about what we want. I it is not about who right. It’s about being happy.”
Brown has already announced that he planned on playing next season, but he is going to take some time to heal up from his injury after having surgery. Then see where things lead from there.
