Antonio Brown has issues with Ben Roethlisberger and Mike Tomlin...obviously

In a revelation that was a surprise to just about no one, Steelers disgruntled, dissed and p**sed receiver Antonio Brown revealed in a Twitter Q&A with fans on Saturday his reasons for feeling disgruntled, dissed and, well........

Just weeks after quarterback Ben Roethlisberger went on his local radio show and said, “What conflict between me and Tone?” or however he put it, Brown, in an answer to one of the 10 questions from fans regarding his reasons for filing divorce papers with the Steelers, said about his relationship with his current—and soon-to-be former— quarterback.......:

“No conflict just a matter of respect! Mutual respect! He has an owner mentality like he can call out anybody including coaches. Players know but they can’t say anything about it otherwise they meal ticket gone. It’s a dirty game within a game. #truth.”

Glad it wasn’t a conflict........

After another fan brought up Brown sitting out the regular season finale against the Bengals on December 30, the receiver said:

“After the coach tell the team I quit while nursing some bumps then invite me to watch the show with same guys thinking I quit i can not stand with that! I’m the bad guy doe we miss the post season think about it”

Not sure what the holy heck Brown was trying to say in that Tweet, but the assumption is he is angry with Mike Tomlin for saying he quit on the team after failing to show up to meetings and practices that week.

I mean, I’m no expert on words and/or definitions, but Tomlin using the word “quit” to describe Brown’s actions (if indeed he told the team that) seems to fit the definition of those actions.

Brown mentioned a lot of other stuff during his additional answers to fan questions, but the two referenced here in this article appear to reveal the genesis of his wanting to leave town. Antonio Brown has problems with his head coach and his quarterback.

Shocker.

We waited six whole weeks for Brown to tell us what we knew all along, but while the obvious was obviously obvious this whole time, by Brown airing his grievances so publicly and so forcefully, how can he set foot in a Steelers locker room ever again? How can he ever mend fences with his quarterback or his coach?

Brown’s apparent frustrations boil down to being called out by people in the organization that clearly have authority over him. It’s one thing to take exception to your franchise quarterback calling you out on his radio show for not running your route flat enough on a critical play in the final seconds of a loss to the Broncos. It’s quite another to take exception to your franchise quarterback holding you accountable in practice and asking that you run a play again—and this time the right way (this was the apparent spark that ignited the non-conflict that occurred in the days prior to the regular season finale at Heinz Field). They say teammates should keep things in house, and I get that. It’s probably never a good idea to single your teammates out on your radio show—even in the passive-aggressive way Roethlisberger often likes to go about it. However, as an accomplished passer and team captain, Roethlisberger should be able to ask that his guys get it together in practice—even his GOAT receiver.

As for his problem with Tomlin, if there’s ever a debt of gratitude Brown should owe to someone, it’s his head coach. It’s no secret Tomlin has given Brown a long leash over the years—a leash long enough to be late to meetings and hump goal posts to the detriment of his team. Evidently, however, Brown bristles at his coach pulling rank even when his violation—skipping actual work days—is clearly egregious and universally unacceptable in the world of professional sports.

It would be foolish to think Roethlisberger doesn’t have certain personality quirks that make him less than an ideal teammate in this eyes of some. It would also be foolish to think he’s completely innocent of any blame in this blow-up with his receiver—especially since there were clearly issues simmering between the two for years.

When it comes to the head coach, he’s clearly guilty of enabling Brown to the point that he thought he was above reproach with regards to his professional behavior.

Having said all that, however, Roethlisberger and Tomlin have publicly handled themselves better than Brown has since this conflict was brought to light six weeks ago.

Furthermore, both are here to stay

As for the receiver and what he wants, he clearly wants to be the straw that stirs the drink.

In a sport where the quarterback and coach are pretty much everything with regards to championship aspirations, Brown will never be that in Pittsburgh.

Nice knowing you, Antonio. Unfortunately, you’ll have to go stir the drink for another football team.