The Pittsburgh Steelers were longball hitters at the wide receiver position about a decade ago. Over the span of two drafts, they selected not one, not two, but three Pro Bowlers at the position in the third round or later, beginning with Mike Wallace in 2009 and then Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown a year later.
Sanders would be the one to emerge only after he left the Steelers—not that his time in Pittsburgh was bad—but he would also prove to have the best head on his shoulders over the years as well, which perhaps has been no more obvious than now as Brown continues his quixotic assault on the windmills that have done him wrong over the years.
Sanders, who suffered a season-ending injury in 2018 after the Steelers played—and lost to—his Denver Broncos, made a guest appearance recently as an analyst on one of the 24-hour sports channels, which we previously covered.
“I feel like Antonio brought it on himself”, he said in that interview. “You can not turn your back on your brothers and the Pittsburgh Steelers organization who gave you the opportunity to make you who you are in terms of Antonio Brown the football player. For you to leave on a Wednesday and have your agent call on a Sunday is the ultimate disrespect to the Pittsburgh Steelers organization”.
That was from several days ago, but Brown seemingly only got a chance to see it yesterday, prompting him to respond. He even previously ‘liked’ a post that Sanders made on Twitter in which he talked about discussing Brown’s situation, but evidently he didn’t know what his former teammate had said.
Brown called Sanders, paraphrasing, the same guy who skipped rehab to talk about his situation without having any information about it. He finished by saying—again, paraphrasing—they say we’re friends; stop lying.
It didn’t take Sanders long to shoot back. “You trippin yo”, he said. “Get off the gas yo. You did this to yourself”. It seems apparent that his former teammate doesn’t have a lot of sympathy for him, and I don’t think many would blame him right now.
It’s only natural to wonder how many bridges Brown has left to burn, both among current and former teammates. His current teammates who have gone on record to talk about him have offered some criticism but ultimately appealed to reason and sought reconciliation.
It’s being made pretty clear that Brown is only interested right now in those who are entirely in his corner and who will not speak ill of him. He has even suggested that his team and teammates are “indifferent” to him—even the fans.
It’s hard to imagine how he could expect a much more positive reaction based on his conduct, but all we can do is wait to hear what he has to say for himself.
