Dunlap: A Startling Revelation, Even For Antonio Brown
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) - What a startling revelation, even as it pertains to Antonio Brown. You know by now he's a man who seemingly can't do anything quietly or without a hint (many times a lot more) of controversy or drama.
And so it was I was reading the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and came across a column by Ron Cook wherein Cook made the case to explore trading Brown.
We all have our opinions and mine tilts heavily toward disagreeing with Ron's on this matter.
That said, there was a revelation, a disclosure within the well-crafted column that came as an enormous jolt.
Cook wrote: "In more than one game, when he wasn't happy with how he was being used, he frequently ran the wrong patterns, either because of a lack of focus or — worse — intentionally."
Whoa.
Huh?
Did I see that correctly?
So Ron Cook --- most certainly through information he gathered from Steelers players and/or coaches --- is making a claim that Antonio Brown at best quit on his team and, at worst, carried out an act of sabotage on the Steelers.
This is an enormous eye-opener. This is a big-time story.
You know why? Because there isn't a lot of room for gray area in all of this.
Let's go down the road of taking Ron at his word (which I do) and also go down the road of believing fully the source that disclosed such information (which I'm on the fence about).
How does it benefit a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, in whole or part, to work through the media if this was the case? I think Antonio Brown can be a knucklehead, for sure. That said, the people in the locker room who were perturbed at Brown's Facebook Live antics were mainly mad that Brown let the public in on what should have been a private, team matter.
By going through the media and leaking this information, isn't that exactly what someone else is doing?
Seems to me that's the case; seems to me someone is being a hypocrite.
Why didn't they let a team matter be a team matter?
Again, I don't know where the truth is, but this is a very heavy claim thrown on Brown by someone.
The other side of this is what if Antonio Brown is 100 percent not guilty in all of this? What if it is made up and passed along to a reporter --- almost all of whom don't know the Steelers' route trees nor could delineate if Brown ran the right or wrong route in a certain situation.
If that's the case, Antonio Brown has every single right to be really mad and respond to defend his honor and professionalism.
This is a can of worms, a gigantic one, either way.
There's really only one of two things happening: Antonio Brown is terrible teammate and maybe even sabotaged his team, or someone is bold-faced lying about Brown doing something he didn't do.
Either way, this is a mess. A gargantuan mess. And one that needs to be figured out if Antonio Brown is going to stick around.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weekdays from 5:40 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
