Antonio Brown Says 'Fuck All You MF' to Tom Brady and the Bucs Because 'They Tried to Hurt Me Intentionally'
Sometimes it works out when you partner up two completely opposite personality types. Especially when the duo combines the younger, unpredictable, impetuous wild card and the older, wiser, cool-headed veteran. Their clashing styles can come together and form a perfect, symbiotic relationship that gets the job done. Kirk and Spock. Riggs and Murtaugh. Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan.
But more often than not, a pair like that doesn't last. The dynamic lacks that chemistry that keeps them together through all the arguing and the "I'm getting too old for this shit"ness that ensues. Think Pete Davidson and every improbably attractive older woman who dates Pete Davidson.
Or, for the pluperfect example, consider Tom Brady and Antonio Brown. Count me among those people who, the first time they heard Brady had moved Brown into his house in Brookline and again when he personally signed AB in Tampa, were rolling our necks side-to-side, waving a finger and yelling "Uh-uh, girlfriend! Stay away from that one! He's baaad for you!" But where we saw disaster looming, Brady saw a troubled but good-looking rebel who plays by his own rules, and who could be fixed with the right kind of love. And in one of those situations where you'd love to be proven wrong, we were, of course, proven right.
And while Brady has moved on, it should come as no surprise that this ex who was never good for him in the first place, still hasn't. Brown is convinced he was wronged. By the man who was willing to take him in when no one else would:
The screencap:
We could begin anywhere. Including the part at the end where he says the NFL still cain't [sic] stop him, while he's doing the very best he can to make sure no one in the NFL will sign him. But no. Let's start with a close up of that screen where we see this X-ray of his ankle is from mid-October:
From the date of that exam, Brown was inactive for the next five games, and DNP for the next three. With Tampa's bye week thrown in, that's nine weeks of treatment before he came back. And while he might have aggravated the injury, the week before the Jets game in question, the Bucs played at Carolina, where Brady targeted him 15 times. Fucking 15! He had 10 catches for 101 yards. Then against the Jets he added another five targets before Brown pulled a nutty and Ned Bradened his way off the ice:
And once again, even though Brady is out of football now (allegedly), we're left to ask what he saw in Antonio Brown. We can concede that he's physically gifted at running and catching. But so are a lot of guys who don't run their routes carrying steamer trunks of mental and emotional baggage on their shoulders. Several of whom were already on Tampa's roster when the GOAT got there. Expecting Brown not to tear a team apart with his unhinged shenanigans is like expecting a skunk not to spray you because you asked him not to. The only question now is, how much of Brown's mercurial bullshit and the way the Bucs dealt with it contributed to Brady deciding he's had enough of playing in Tampa. If he unretires - and in no way am I ruling that out - we'll know it was a huge factor. I just pity the team he goes to, because he might want to try and fix Brown yet again. Stay tuned.