The Pittsburgh Steelers were without wide receiver Antonio Brown in their Sunday matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. Leading up to the game, head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters that Brown was a game-time decision due to a knee injury. The Steelers won that game 16-13 but didn’t get the help required to make the playoffs, ending their season with a 9-6-1 record. While most around the league were waiting for news on the status of Mike Tomlin and his future with the team, reports on the actual reason that Brown missed the game and started coming out of Pittsburgh.
According to sources for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette‘s Gerry Dulac and Ed Bouchette, Antonio Brown was benched after missing practices following a dispute with Ben Roethlisberger.
Antonio Brown was sat down against Bengals because he elected to skip practice last week and missed meetings, per sources. https://t.co/Os1aiy2c0k
— Gerry Dulac (@gerrydulac) December 31, 2018
Dulac took to Twitter to detail the dispute further.
Brown's episode began when he threw a football at a teammate after a heated dispute with him. One player called the entire situation "embarrassing" and "the worst I've seen."
— Gerry Dulac (@gerrydulac) December 31, 2018
B-More Opinionated podcast’s Jason LaCanfora, formerly of the NFL Network, was first to report that the dispute was with Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
The altercation that led Antonio Brown's benching last week was with Ben Roethlisberger. Im told it was fairly ugly and the WR was totally in the wrong. He went AWOL essentially for the 3rd time this season dating back to training camp
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) December 31, 2018
LaCanfora is also reporting that Brown has requested to be traded after perceiving that Tomlin is too “aligned” with Roethlisberger.
Antonio Brown has requested a trade. Im told it was not a demand but he has asked to be dealt. Very unlikely Rooney would capitulate. Brown has issues with Mike Tomlin and Ben Roethlisberger. Feels like the coach is too aligned with the QB.
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) January 1, 2019
From arguments on the sidelines to reports of the two having to meet and talk to one another about the problems they have had in the past, the Brown and Roethlisberger relationship has been anything but ideal. With the addition of Brown’s perception that Tomlin has picked the quarterback’s side in disputes way too often, the situation in Pittsburgh has just gotten worse since missing the playoffs Sunday.
Many thought that Tomlin was on the hot seat before the news broke of the dysfunction in the locker room, and more specifically between Brown and Roethlisberger and Brown and himself. This is after teammates criticized runningback Le’Veon Bell for sitting out because of a contract dispute. After today, the Steelers front office are in a situation where they must make a decision on their head coach, who seems to not have much control of his locker room and their star wide receiver, who is causing his fair share of the dysfunction in that locker room.
