10 Things I Think I Thought about the Antonio Brown fall out

No NFL football again this week, though plenty of talk about AB. I realize it’s not that important that I add my two cents to the massive pile of opinions on the man and his plan. I’m hoping though that writing this column will purge the theme from my future.

1. Antonio Brown is very good at playing football. We shouldn’t let his negatives blot out the reality of his talents. I’m not arguing that we should keep him. I am arguing that those who argue, “He’s washed up anyway” are letting their emotions show, rather than their minds.
2. The world is full of men who are very good at playing football that I would not want on my team. Because, of course, there’s more to being a football team than running routes and catching passes. That the intangibles are intangible doesn’t make them unimportant.
3. At the end of the day, one of two things is going to happen. AB will either implode and never come close to matching the success he’s had (we’ll call that the Leveon Bell option) or he will catch a lot of passes, rack up thousands of more yards and play on a team that doesn't win (we’ll call this the Ocho Cinqo option.) What I am nearly certain will not happen is he will have several years of great success on a team having several years of great success.
4. At the end of the day the Steelers and AB were both looking at each other, at home and dateless as the playoffs began, saying to each other, “It’s not me, it’s you.” This time next year we’re going to know the Steelers were right and AB wrong.
5. This may seem a little weird, but one of the hard things for me is that henceforth when I watch highlights of AB with the Steelers, my stomach will turn, and I’ll be thinking about the end. I’m not upset at Franco or Mike Webster or even Greg Lloyd for drawing another paycheck or two after they no longer fit in our plans. But this is just ugly, and an utterly different situation. One need not be a diva to want to play more after the Steelers think you should hang them up. When playing is your one, holy passion, then play. And come back for a day to retire a Steeler when you know your time has come.
6. There are three worlds to an NFL player. There’s on the field. There’s off the field football stuff. And there’s off the field non-football stuff. In two out of three AB has been through train wreck after train wreck. I believe it will spill onto the field next season.
7. AB, instead of heading for a legacy as one of the greatest to ever play the game is driving 100 MPH toward of legacy of one of the greatest to ever raise the question, “What the heck happened there?” Instead of being mentioned with Jerry Rice, Marvin Harrison and Larry Fitzgerald, he’ll be mentioned with TO, Ocho Cinco, and Josh Gordon. That boomin’ we’re hearing? That’s AB blowing up his legacy.
8. It is always a good thing to pause and give thanks for our spouses, like my beautiful wife. It is also always a good time to pause and give thanks for players with class. Thank you Ryan, Joe, James, Alexander, Cam.
9. Without undermining thought #1, we’re going to be fine next year at wide receiver.
10. Hey AB- #call God.