The Sunday sideline temper tantrum in the game against the Baltimore Ravens by Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown has apparently created quite stir and enough of one that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger addressed it quite a bit during his Tuesday morning interview on 93.7 The Fan.
Roethlisberger, in so many words, said he was disappointed with Brown’s actions Sunday in Baltimore and admitted that it has become somewhat of a distraction. An hour later, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was asked if Brown’s throwing of a water cooler on the sideline Sunday, along with his other antics, can become a distraction.
“It can be,” Tomlin said. “I didn’t see it on Sunday, I heard about it after. A.B. is a competitor and we all know and understand that. It aids him, it aids us, but we’ve got to control it. He has to control it. If he does not, it could work against him, it could work against us. Those are just the lessons you learn along the way. Sunday was a big game obviously for a lot of reasons. Emotions are capable of getting away from you. It doesn’t need to happen, it shouldn’t happen, hopefully it won’t moving forward.
“Hopefully he’s learned a lesson through that and hopefully others have learned a lesson through that. I think that’s one of the things that you’ve really got to focus on when you talk about something like that. We’ve got young people on our team. They need to be taught good things, good lessons, ways to conduct themselves as professionals. We all make mistakes, he made a mistake. I’m sure he’s ready to move on from it, but I also think there’s a lesson to be learned, or a lesson to be taught there and I hope he addresses that element of it as well as he moves forward.
Tomlin was then asked if he’s had a conversation with Brown about how his Sunday sideline tantrum could have an impact on the younger players on the team.
“That’s a conversation that I have with everyone,” Tomlin said.
Tomlin was then asked if there’s a balance between being passionate player and letting ones frustrations boil over.
“Man, this is not Antonio’s first rodeo,” Tomlin said. “I’m not going to waste a lot of time talking to Antonio about not throwing water coolers and so forth. Be a professional.”
It sounds like Tomin and Roethlisberger are now done with their thoughts about what Brown did on Sunday. At least we can only hope that’s the case.
Brown’s Sunday outburst was a result of Roethlisberger failing to throw him the football when he was wide-open during a second quarter third down play against the Ravens. Brown threw his hands up in disgust after Roethlisberger threw to the other side of the field and after reaching the sideline, proceeded to not only throw a water cooler, but he pulled himself away from Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley when he was apparently trying to calm the wide receiver down.
Brown caught just 4 passes in Sunday’s game for 34 yards on 9 total targets.
