The journey toward Super Bowl LII ended far too prematurely for the Pittsburgh Steelers, sending them into offseason mode before we were ready for it. But we are in it now, and are ready to move on, through the Combine, through free agency, through the draft, into OTAs, and beyond.
We have asked and answered a lot of questions over the years and will continue to do so, and at the moment, there seem to be a ton of questions that need answering. A surprise early exit in the postseason will do that to you though, especially when it happens in the way it did.
You can rest assured that we have the questions, and we will be monitoring developments all throughout the offseason process, all the way down to Latrobe. Pending free agents, possible veteran roster cuts, contract extensions, pre-draft visits, pro days, all of it will have its place when the time arises.
Question: What was your reaction to Antonio Brown’s remarks about the role the media plays in heightening controversies, among other things?
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the team’s fans over the course of the past couple of weeks have had a sideline view of what I guess can be called something of a mid-career crisis for Antonio Brown, the greatest wide receiver in the game and one of the best players active today, period.
After attending the first couple of OTA practices, he chose to forego the final eight—including the annual traditional off day that Mike Tomlin uses as a team-building activity—to instead, as he put it, “get my mind right”.
While much of what he had to say did ring with some truth—albeit obvious—the harsh reality is that his complaints are the typical fanfare that come with the territory that he has chosen to accept. That doesn’t make whatever he might struggle with easier to bear—the millions of dollars help to take care of that—but it is nevertheless a largely inevitable byproduct of his success.
Does he have a right to complain? Does he have a right to expect anybody to care? Perhaps on some issue, and not others? What was your read on Brown’s comments, his first remarks in weeks since he first spoke on the opening day of OTAs?
Brown is heading into his ninth season and coming off five consecutive years in which he has been named to the Pro Bowl, the All-Pro team, and has caught at least 100 passes for at least 1200 yards and at least eight touchdowns, typically going far north of those marks.
He told reporters that success on the field demands piece of mind, and he used this time to work on achieving that as he heads into—well, a long break before training camp. But piece of mind is needed at all times when you don’t have it, I suppose.
I also realize in hindsight that I have Iron Maiden on the brain, so I’m going to leave the usage of the phrase ‘piece of mind’ intact here rather than fixing it to read ‘peace of mind’.
