Getty Oakland Raiders WR Antonio Brown.
Antonio Brown hasn’t been making a lot of friends over the last year or so. The new wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders has found himself caught in the middle of numerous controversies dating back to his time as a Pittsburgh Steeler. It hasn’t stopped since he made his way to Oakland and he only added to it when he decided to respond to an interview that Ben Roethlisberger gave to Michele Tafoya (via NFL reporter Dov Kleiman), where he said that their beef “ruined a friendship.” Brown responded on Twitter by saying:
“Never friends just had to get my ends…….shut up already,” tweeted Brown, then deleted.
Well, not everybody was too happy with Brown’s response. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith had some choice words for the receiver on First Take.
“[Brown] looks worse and worse with each passing day because the things that he has done is indicative of an individual who has taken ‘divaness’, for lack of a better word, to another level,” said Smith. “He goes at anybody that remotely disagrees with him in this particular day and age. He is about himself and that is what he has proven to be.”
Smith recognized that Big Ben isn’t blameless in the situation but still thinks Brown looks worse. Max Kellerman, Smith’s colleague on the show, defended Brown. Kellerman noted how Roethlisberger gave qualifiers to his regret by saying that he would do the same things with other players, but Brown was the one that got mad.
“Ben is the one that’s putting out the quotes that AB is responding to,” said Kellerman. “Antonio Brown deleted the tweet, he thought better of it. More is expected of Ben Roethlisberger as a franchise quarterback and he’s doing a passive-aggressive number on Antonio Brown.”
It was a mistake to make the drama public and it wasn’t smart of Brown to continue to make it public. Before the beef, the two men formed one of the best tandems in the league. It’ll be interesting to see how the two players do without each other in 2019.
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Stephen A. Smith Disrespects Antonio Brown in Top WRs List
Smith wasn’t done with his teardown of Antonio Brown. He didn’t include Brown in his top-five best receivers for 2019. He put Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, Odell Bekcham Jr., Michael Thomas and Tyreek Hill ahead of Brown.
If you’re looking for AB on @stephenasmith‘s A. List of the Top 5 NFL WR’s this season, you won’t find him and he explains why:
On the NFL Top-100, he was ranked as the best receiver in the NFL. Few receivers have shown the consistency that Brown has over the years. He’s had over 100 receptions and 1,000 receiving yards every season for the last six years. His production is only outmatched by his work ethic. Yes, there are some unknowns for him heading into 2019. He has a new quarterback in Derek Carr and is coming off a bizarre foot injury. However, the same thing can be said about Odell Beckham Jr. Regardless, Brown has a lot to do to prove the doubters wrong in 2019. He’s stirred the pot quite a bit with a number of controversies. The easiest way to make people forget about the drama is by scoring lots of touchdowns.
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