Well, well, well. It seems that Pittsburgh Steelers third-year wide receiver Antonio Brown has a flaw. Despite busting out his sophomore year with 2,048 all-purpose yards, and always saying and doing the right things both on and off the field, wide receivers coach Scottie Montgomery revealed this past week that Brown has a problem. That problem is that he needs to rest some.
What? In reality, Montgomery, in his one-on-one interview with Bob Labriola on Steelers Live at 4, heaped a ton of praise on the former sixth round draft pick out of Central Michigan, when asked to talk about each of the receivers. “I don\’t doubt any day when Antonio Brown wakes up that he\’s not trying to be the best in the world,” said Montgomery. “That\’s exactly when he wakes up, he is trying to be the number one player in the world.”
Montgomery continued on to say that Brown basically just needs to back off a little bit and rest some. “For one, 84, or Antonio, as most people would know him as, sometimes you just have to work on him backing off a little bit, because he is a guy that wakes up at 6 am and starts working out, and doesn\’t stop working out until about 10 p.m.,” said Montgomery. “So what he needs to understand, is from a professional standpoint, professional development sometimes happens through rest.”
So there you have it. The fan favorite and 2011 team MVP, who is responsible for the increasing popular acronym, C.U.E.U.P.U., which stands for chest up, eyes up, prayed up, needs to only add an R.U. to that for rest up. Not too shabby for a player from the mean streets of Miami, who just so happens to be entering the final year of his rookie contract this upcoming season. It\’s not hard to believe that Montgomery says that when Brown wakes up every morning he has the intentions of being the number one player in the world. His personality and actions thus far certainly scream that out loud.
Brown was not the only receiver that Montgomery discussed in his interview with Labriola either. In regard to fellow third-year wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, Montgomery said, “He is a guy that is probably one of the most skilled guys that I\’ve been around in that room from a standpoint of just receiver skill and fundamentals.” As far as things that Sanders needs to work on, Montgomery stated, “The things that I would have him work on, more than anything, is just continue to develop his strength. You know his core strength, not only his core strength, but lower body strength and just working everyday to be the best that he can in coming out of his breaks and being healthy. And that\’s one thing, if you improve your strength, it will also improve your health.”
Next up was the thoughts of Montgomery on Mike Wallace, who currently has yet to sign his one-year restricted tender and practice this off-season. “Mike, the one thing that I could get to improve him more than anything, is that for me to get a chance to see him here really shortly,” said Montgomery. “The true thing that he can really work on, and continue to work on at all time, is that we will do an exceptional job of working his feet and getting him in and out of breaks. I think that he is extremely talented from a skill standpoint and a fundamental standpoint.” Montgomery also praised the speed of Wallace and his ability to track down the deep ball in addition as he added, “One thing that of course that he has that no one can coach that you can be around, he is the fastest man I\’ve ever been around, hung out with, or seen run routes. He\’s exceptionally fast and he is an unique guy, because usually, truly fast guys have problems tracking some of those deep balls and he just has the knack to come up with those deep balls.”
Montgomery did not forget about the veteran Jerricho Cotchery either, who was re-signed to a multi-year deal this off-season. “Oh he is definitely my guy,” gushed Montgomery. “I really love Jerricho. I told the rookies when they first came in, a lot of these guys when you first come in will give you a hard time, but if you need to go to someone besides me, that is going to be there for you no matter what, they\’re not going to tell your business, or not worry about it getting out to anyone else, you need to go to Jerricho.” Montgomery continued on with his praise and respect for the former Jets receiver. “I haven\’t been around very many men in this profession, period, that are as good of a young man that he is. His family life is together and intact. And also on the field, he learned our entire offense last year in two weeks and went into the first preseason game and played unbelievable for us. So from a football standpoint, he is well above the line. We\’re just really, really happy to have him here. I\’m kind of tickled that we have him in a position that we have him in here, and he wanting to come back and be with us and that\’s a testament to who he is.”
The interview was very candid with Montgomery, and while each might have a minor flaw here and there, you can tell that he is very excited about this group headed into 2012. During the interview the coach summed it best when he said, “We have a lot of guys that are very hungry, to say the least, that want to make plays every single time and want to be on the field every play.”
