It’s been several weeks now since Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown suffered a concussion-causing hit from Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict in the AFC Wild Card game and the league’s top pass catcher still hasn’t been able to move past it.
“I feel like guys don’t want to stop me anymore. They want to take me out. They want to kill me,” Brown said in a Thursday morning interview on 93.7 The Fan. “They want to steal my dreams. They want to ruin me. They want to end me, but we’re not gonna let them. What we are gonna do is win more.”
Brown, who took an unnecessary shot to the head from Burfict late in the game, wound up missing the Steelers Divisional Round game against the the Denver Broncos as a result of him failing to pass the league-mandated concussion protocol. After the game against the Bengals ended, Cincinnati cornerback Adam Jones went as far as to suggest that Brown was faking his injury in addition to saying that he thought Burfict’s hit was legal.
While Jones eventually issued a public apology to Brown in an Instagram video, the Steelers wide receiver said Thursday that he’s yet to make peace with the Bengals cornerback.
“No, the guy text me, no reply, I don’t even know why people give him a platform to say something so ridiculous,” Brown said, who also added that he’s now resumed his offseason workouts after finally clearing protocol.
As far as this year’s Super Bowl goes, Brown admitted Thursday that he won’t be pulling for the Broncos and his former teammate, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders.
“I want to see him [Sanders] do well, but I don’t want to see him get a Super Bowl ring because that’s something I have to live with all offseason,” said Brown, who was drafted by the Steelers the same year that Sanders was. “He’s going to throw his rings in my face and that’s something I’m not trying to hear.”
