Antonio Brown popped up in front of the media Thursday afternoon for the first time since the regular season has ended. Flying in for this week’s Super Bowl, he was briefly interviewed by USA Today Sports. It’s a short clip (shown below) and Brown doesn’t say much but told the reporter he wanted to win, no matter what city he may wind up playing in.
“I just want to win, you know? I just want to win. Play with a team. I just want to win.”
The reporter then followed up if it mattered where he was playing next year.
“It doesn’t matter where.”
Earlier in the offseason, there was one report – of the many, many we’ve read already – that said Brown was frustrated by the Steelers’ lack of success and a perceived lack of effort and dedication from teammates. Here’s what SI’s Albert Breer wrote in early January, regarding the incident where Brown left the team before the finale against the Cincinnati Bengals.
“Brown has explained to those close to him that he didn’t feel some of his teammates were as invested in 2018 as he was, and it was showing up in their work, and he was fed up with it. The standard, as he saw it, was slipping. And his side of the story holds that his handling of last week—from the Wednesday outburst to the Saturday no-show—was a manifestation of how he felt about the state of the team.”
Of course, if he’s traded, it’s possible he goes to a worse team – San Francisco would be a downgrade, even if it’s a roster that’s improving – and decreases his chances of winning.
Again, it’s a short interview and one where Brown seemed distracted the entire time. But it’s the first time his face has been in front of a camera that wasn’t loading Instagram. And considering he’s standing in the biggest media spotlight that is the Super Bowl, it probably won’t be his last.
