Antonio Brown’s Facebook Live video ill-timed, but hardly the fire storm some have created

If you were a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers who lives on the east coast, you probably hit the hay after your favorite team beat the Kansas City Chiefs 18-16 to advance to the AFC Championship game next Sunday. While asleep, you probably had wonderful thoughts of waking up on Monday morning to read nothing but articles regarding the Steelers’ 9th straight win.

The alarm goes off, and you check your phone to see...

...media pundits going crazy over Antonio Browns’ Facebook Live video in the visiting locker room at Arrowhead Stadium.

Now, for those who don’t know, or don’t follow the social media crazed Brown on multiple platforms, this isn’t the first time he has done a live video after a game. After the Wild Card win over the Miami Dolphins, Brown showed off his media scrum to fans. Following the team’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 15, he did another live video from the team airplane.

No one complained about those videos, but this one was different. I would embed the video here in said article, but it has since been deleted (no surprise). Brown took to his phone so quickly, head coach Mike Tomlin had yet to even address the team. What you saw, or heard, was Tomlin congratulate the team, talk about how their grit and determination were rewarded and then he called the New England Patriots, who the Steelers will face next Sunday, a bunch of “A—holes”.

You then hear Ben Roethlisberger and Ramon Foster talk about conducting themselves wisely throughout the week, especially on social media. Yeah, I’m sure that fell on the deaf ears of No. 84.

Now at this point you might be reading this thinking I am completely against what Brown did after the game. Well, I don’t think it was the right thing to do, but more just ill-timed.

This isn’t the first time a coach’s post-game tirade was caught on film. Anyone remember John Harbaugh’s rant about the Steelers after they lost to the lowly New York Jets a week after beating the Ravens? The main difference was this was a player posting the video.

Brown is a social media addict. Whether it is his Facebook community, or his endless snap chat stories, Brown loves the social media scene and has used it to propel his star status. Can’t fault a man for trying to promote himself, and his brand, while he is at the top of his game, but fans who are crying foul over this might need to just take a step back for a second, and breathe.

So far, from what I’ve gathered on social media, is fans are upset about a few things:

• Brown’s video shared Tomlin’s thoughts on New England and how he was upset about the NFL schedule putting his team behind the 8-ball with one less day to prepare.

Sure, the video gave a glimpse into what goes on behind closed doors, but if you needed Browns’ video to tell you the Steelers don’t like the Patriots, or the rest of the NFL for that matter, you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade and a half.

• Disrespect for the coach and captains by not giving them their undivided attention.

This is probably the one which bothers me the most. Tomlin is speaking to the team, and Brown is more occupied by the phone than his fellow players and coach. Now, this isn’t high school, and Brown will likely have a conversation with Tomlin, this conversation might have already taken place considering the video has been removed from Brown’s Facebook page, but Brown will say the right things and will be a big part of the team next Sunday. Only Brown’s future actions will show if he has learned anything from this event.

• Giving the Patriots bulletin board material heading into the AFC Championship game next Sunday.

To me, this is the most laughable reason to be disgusted over the video. Plain and simple, if the Steelers or Patriots need any further motivation other than being one win away from Super Bowl 51, then they are in the wrong occupation.

I am not condoning what Brown did. In fact, I am doing the complete opposite, but my main issue with the coverage of this story is it has somehow taken away from what the Steelers, and Brown, did on the field Sunday night.

The team won a hard fought game in a hostile environment, the win was their 9th in a row, the team is a relatively healthy unit and are one game away from returning to the Super Bowl.

Think long and hard about that, and you’ll see this video conversation is far from what folks should be talking about on this ‘Victory Monday’.