Antonio Brown walks out

[RaynorShyne]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001...game-early

Diva's.

[bbbooger]

Yup... Predicted this as soon as MVP was announced...

Just another example of the lack of discipline and accountability leading to unnecessary distraction(s). At least they didn't play him Sunday... I guess that's a start...

[mcmillenandwife]

Holy shit. What a dick move by AB.

What is with these guys???

[bbbooger]

...

What is with these guys???

Me first, undisciplined, culture that's been been allowed to fester and persist far too long under this HC (can you say: "Facetime"...?)

Short of complete regime change, its gonna be extremely difficult to put that Genie back in its bottle after all that's been allowed for however long.

[Garrett Garlits]

The more I read about this, the worse it looks. Tomlin's talked to him, Ben's talked to him, even Art II's tried to talk to him, and none of it's worked. So it's time for the next step, but they probably can't trade him for anything good, and cutting him will ruin their salary cap for the length of his contract.

My solution? Suspend him three regular season games for conduct detrimental to the team. I'm not sure if he can practice while he's suspended, but he stays in good enough shape that it really shouldn't matter. Why three games? To avoid a needless hassle with the players' union over whether yesterday's benching counts as a suspension. If he steps out of line even once more after that no matter how slightly, he's gone, period.


If they don't sit him any additional games, he's gotten away with it, as far as I'm concerned, and maybe all the stuff about Tomlin being too soft has some merit.

[bbbooger]

I deleted that post because I didn't want those comments to stand. I'll post other thoughts later.

Fair enough... deleted my response...

I've been known to make a statement and then think better of it a time or two...

[Crash]

My opinion is he has too much Baby Mama Drama combined with his ego and helium balloon sized head the last four years.

[sandfan]

I think they got a 5th rounder for Holmes. I'd hate to think that's all they could get for Brown.

I've not been in a locker room for decades but I've never been in one where there appears to be so much stress, disorder and lack of discipline. The coach needed to put a stop to this long ago. It just gets harder to do so as time passes and the issues continue.

The players also have a chance to fix it but maybe peer pressure does not work as well as it did in the past. Pro athletes today are not quite the same as the guys I knew in high school and college. If a coach loses a team the chances for victory are slim.

The answer to all of this is above my pay grade. I never opted to distract, just wanted to contribute and win, so I really don't understand the motivation to do so or how to address it. That's why coaches get paid big bucks today and successful ones know how to get it done.

I hope Tomlin is up to the task.

[Rollers]

My opinion is he has too much Baby Mama Drama combined with his ego and helium balloon sized head the last four years.

Ben has added to the drama as well.

[RaynorShyne]

https://www.pennlive.com/steelers/2018/1...eport.html


Mark Kaboly
✔
@MarkKaboly
Was told this afternoon by a source during Steelers locker room clean out that Antonio Brown threw a ball near/at feet of Ben Roethlisberger and walked out of practice. Post-Gazette reporting Brown skipped Sat walkthrough and expected to play Sunday. He didn’t

[RaynorShyne]

This is beyond Tomlin.

https://nypost.com/2019/01/01/ex-steeler...nio-brown/

Ownership of The GM need to step in, Get rid of Tomlin (who let all this transpire) and get your damn team back.

[RaynorShyne]

https://nypost.com/2019/01/01/antonio-br...ther-team/

LOL I need to stop reading

[Krunch]

Tomlin's lack of Leadership Skills coming home to roost.  It's shame that so many Steelers buckle down, play for the team and the glory and then the Prima Dona's are given free reign to act the fool, distract and become locker room cancers.  Dump Tomlin and bring in a disciplinarian.  I'm so sick of the Patty-Cake, look-at-me garbage that the Steelers have become.  CELEBRATE WHEN YOU WIN SOMETHING, NOT BECAUSE THE CAMERA IS ON YOU!!!!  I think what set AB off is that Ben dared give his son a James Conner Jersey for Christmas! 

[Garrett Garlits]

Disciplinarians of the type you're suggesting simply don't exist anymore, Krunch. Even Brady routinely goes above Belichick's head to Kraft, who gives him exactly what he wants. Belichick's tough guy act is mostly for the grunts, the easily replaceable, and the media.


AB and Ben are above this team, that's all there is to it. We as fans and Tomlin or whoever coaches this team simply have to live with it and try and work around it as best we can. Sometimes we'll succeed in the regular season, and sometimes we won't. The playoffs are anybody's guess. When they go, it'll be time for JuJu to demand what's coming to him, and whoever's quarterbacking by then. Don't forget T.J. Watt on defense, either.


The alternative is to trade AB, which will be tough to work out economically, and hope that Ben's motivated enough to stick around once you do that. The time to trade AB is after June 1, which means that his cap hit is only $7 million. But do you really want to see headlines on June 2 or 3 screaming, "BROWN TRADED TO NINERS; BIG BEN QUITS IN SYMPATHY, RIPS STEELERS"? I know I don't, especially since it would probably mean double-digit losses for at least a year or two with one of the kids or some stopgap free agent at quarterback.


We all romanticize the old Steeler Way of Noll, Cowher, and early Tomlin. But is it doable in today's NFL. or do we as fans just have to hope that our egomaniacs beat the other team's egomaniacs often enough to get to the Super Bowl regularly? We're in the process of finding out right now.

[RaynorShyne]

Disciplinarians of the type you're suggesting simply don't exist anymore, Krunch. Even Brady routinely goes above Belichick's head to Kraft, who gives him exactly what he wants. Belichick's tough guy act is mostly for the grunts, the easily replaceable,  and the media.


AB and Ben are above this team, that's all there is to it. We as fans and Tomlin or whoever coaches this team simply have to live with it and try and work around it as best we can. Sometimes we'll succeed in the regular season, and sometimes we won't. The playoffs are anybody's guess. When they go, it'll be time for JuJu to demand what's coming to him, and whoever's quarterbacking by then. Don't forget T.J. Watt on defense, either.


The alternative is to trade AB, which will be tough to work out economically, and hope that Ben's motivated enough to stick around once you do that. The time to trade AB is after June 1, which means that his cap hit is only $7 million.  But do you really want to see headlines on June 2 or 3 screaming, "BROWN TRADED TO NINERS; BIG BEN QUITS IN SYMPATHY, RIPS STEELERS"? I know I don't, especially since it would probably mean double-digit losses for at least a year or two with one of the kids or some stopgap free agent at quarterback.


We all romanticize the old Steeler Way of Noll, Cowher, and early Tomlin. But is it doable in today's NFL. or do we as fans just have to hope that our egomaniacs beat the other team's egomaniacs often enough to get to the Super Bowl regularly? We're in the process of finding out right now.

That's why I'm not putting it on AB.   Or Ben.  Or Tomlin.  

This is now squarely on Kevin Colbert.  

We're the damn 1997 Cowboys.  He's got two choices: clean house to send a signal to the 'grunts' (which, BTW is a term of affection for Army Infantrymen, but you seemingly used it in a derogatory way - just so you know); or have a serious 'coming to God moment' with Tomlin.

The second is the least desirable decision.  They blew the entire LeVeon Bell mess, now the AB mess.

AB is 30.

Ben is 36.

Your team is disintegrating.  

The Steelers - as an organization - have an image.  They don't do cheerleaders.  They don't do an emblem on both sides of the helmet.  It's the Steel City; grit, hard work, determination, blue-collar.........integrity.

Lose that - you lose the fan-base.   I've loved the black and gold since I knew what football was.   I have a photo of my at 3 with a Steelers pennant.

I like Ben.  He's a tough gunslinger.  This blithering-idiot 'i dun know' act with AB and his increasing Tomlin-speak are getting old.

I like AB....s........performance.   He's a diva in a league of WR diva's.   But he's always delivered.   The ROI is no longer there.

Let them go.

Save your team.

[Garrett Garlits]

"Grunts" is how the linemen and other non-stars refer to themselves at times. No disrespect intended.

I agree that you probably need to get rid of AB, and that's possible since JuJu's here and Washington is coming into his own slowly but surely. But Ben? Leave his attitude aside; you have no one of even playoff caliber ready to replace him. At least the Steelers of the eighties had quarterbacks they were high on in Stoudt and Mlalone once Bradshaw had to retire; they didn't work out, but everyone who saw them agreed that the potential was there, and Stoudt in particular had played well in relief when given the chance.

Dobbs looked terrible in Oakland right alongside everyone else, and Rudolph hasn't even dressed yet. No one in the free agent market has been that impressive except for Nick Foles. and I'm not sure the Eagles won't find a way to keep him if t all possible. Everyone else is either an injury risk like Teddy Bridgewater or has been proven to be mediocre at best in the NFL. Do you REALLY want Ryan Tannehill or Blake Bortles running this team? The draft isn't going to be much help, and we already have two developmental projects the way it is. Besides, the potential cap hit if we have to get rid of AB won't let us get into any bidding wars for free agents unless whoever's in charge of the cap can somehow work a miracle.

In short, we'll probably be discussing this exact problem next year, with both Ben and AB a year older. There doesn't appear to be a realistic way for anyone to "save" this team and still keep it a viable playoff contender, and I'd rather have the drama and a fighting chance for at least one or two playoff games a year than two or three years where getting to where we are now would almost be impossible. Super Bowls will come when they come; I've got seven of them from the past to watch right here on this site if I want to badly enough. I just want to have a team with a shot at getting back to one every year, and right now the best option to do that is Ben and Tomlin, whether they ever actually get there again or not.

[Chucktownsteeler]

AB has some serious issues. He now supposedly called Ryan Clark an "uncle Tom". I don't think he's coming back.

[mcmillenandwife]

AB has some serious issues. He now supposedly called Ryan Clark an "uncle Tom". I don't think he's coming back.

I'll post it in this thread, too...

THERE is the racism you've been so fervently looking for, Garrett. 

Unbelievable. 

[RaynorShyne]

Don't need retreads. Tua Tagovailoa or Kyler Murray

[Garrett Garlits]

I don't think Tua's coming out, and Murray's under contract to the Oakland A's. He's waffled a bit on that in recent days, but anything more than a third-day throwaway pick would still be a waste.