Antonio Brown takes off pads and leaves in middle of the game, a breakdown
What Happened
Antonio Brown, the wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, unexpectedly removes his pads and exits the field in the middle of the Buccaneers' game against the New York Jets. The incident occurs in the third quarter, with the Buccaneers trailing the Jets by one point. After taking a handoff, Brown is seen on the sideline arguing with teammates, including wide receiver Mike Evans, who tries to convince him to stay. Brown then proceeds to take off his jersey, pads, and gloves, throwing them into the stands as he walks off the field. Quarterback Tom Brady looks over, seemingly confused by the situation, as the Buccaneers continue their drive without Brown. The broadcast crew expresses their shock and uncertainty about Brown's actions, noting that it appears he has left the team entirely. Head coach Bruce Arians later states that Brown "is no longer a Buc," indicating that he has been released from the team. Conflicting reports emerge regarding the reasoning behind Brown's departure. NFL reporter Ian Rapoport claims that Brown did not believe he was healthy enough to play due to an ongoing ankle injury, while Arians asserts that Brown refused to enter the game when instructed to do so. Brown himself later releases a statement saying he left because he was not feeling well, not due to any dispute over his playing time or injury status. Despite the confusion, the Buccaneers are able to overcome the disruption and rally for a touchdown, eventually winning the game 28-24. Wide receiver Mike Evans makes a key reception to keep the drive alive, showcasing the team's resilience in the face of the unexpected situation. The Antonio Brown incident is the latest in a series of off-field controversies that have surrounded the talented but troubled wide receiver throughout his career. With his abrupt departure from the Buccaneers, questions remain about his future in the NFL and whether he will be able to find a new team willing to take a chance on him.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentwhat happened to antonio brown did he
quit i've never seen a guy leave a field
like that and is this the last strike
for him he is no longer a book
all right that's the end of the story
let's talk about the guys that went out
there and won the game but it's not the
end of the story because the story is
kind of confusing kind of interesting
kind of wild you're probably sick of
hearing about it because it's the most
talked about story in sports right now
but i got a lot of requests so i tried
to piece together all the rumors and all
the all the other stuff at the end but
anyway if you have no idea what's going
on after this handoff from brady the
bucks are losing to the jets hand off
the bell they gain a couple yards on the
sideline antonio brown is upset about
something and he's saying screw this i'm
out of here he's taking the pads off
evans is trying to talk him out of it
being like no come on dude it's all good
he's like nope taking my pads off i'm
leaving but okay a little bit of
difficulty yeah don't film me right now
okay got him got him good here
take those i'm out of here meanwhile
brady and his teammates are running a
play he looks at the field he's like
i'll stay on the sidelines i guess
they're gonna run their second and eight
play i'm gonna show off my abs i don't
want this shirt either someone probably
wants it here you guys take it the glove
i don't want that either meanwhile snap
brady throws it over and they're gonna
get stopped they lose
yards and you can see
he kind of looks over let's see
right there
he looks over he sees the plays winding
down
he's like all right i can go on the
field now whistle's blown dead on the
field no one really cared that he was
throwing the shirt or anything and now
he's on the end zone and the fans are
kind of figuring it out and he's like
yeah yeah it is me what up peace see you
guys later thanks for coming out tonight
love you broadcast picks it up they're
like we're they were told that's antonio
brown we don't really know what's going
on meanwhile evans the dude that was
trying to stop him now he's in the
huddle for the next play i wonder if he
was like you guys gotta believe me what
just happened it was wild but he catches
the pass he gets the first down they
continue to drive a little creation of
at a moment happening there cute moment
between him and the defender and they
just keep driving they're gonna hand it
off psych fake out pass that's a catch
and then the bucks are gonna keep going
and brady's gonna do his thing and
that's a touchdown bucks are coming back
big old spike in the end zone jets coach
is like what the hell was all of that
about
brown's a lefty which
surprised a lot of us
you don't really think about receivers
and if they're lefties or righties and
if that comes into play or not but yeah
he's the lefty imagine if he's not a
lefty he just throws shirts only lefty
or something like that i don't know
meanwhile antonio brown he's got you
know kind of a long record of doing
wild and interesting and bizarre stuff
so it didn't come as a lot of surprise
but then you'll find out
that he had a lot of incentives eight
more catches to unlock 333 grand 55 more
receiving yards to unlock another
one receiving touchdown to unlock
another he's gonna get a million dollars
if he just played the rest of this game
and next week as well but he didn't so
people are like is that why he was mad
because they were intentionally not
targeting him so to cost him money
because they're mad at him for all the
other nonsense he's done or what was it
and then
we get three different stories of why he
left
here's the first two from reporter ian
rapport and coach bruce erians antonio
brown did not believe that he was
healthy he had been battling an ankle
injury for the last several weeks but he
wouldn't go in the game
because he was injured
and now he's no longer part of the team
can you can you fire a player if he
won't go because he's injured
i don't know that he was
did he did he say that he was or was
there just being not there
no
what he told the staff from what i
understand is that he was not going into
the game because in his mind he did not
feel he was healthy he just refused to
go in or can you tell us more about it
not really i mean it had what happened
was pretty obvious what happened so uh
you know
he left the field and that was it
the response then from the offensive
coaches and from brucerians was if you
are not going to go into the game when
we tell you to go into the game
then you cannot be here at that point
they threw him off the sidelines and
then cut him from the team the
conversation you had with with antonio
brown was was not one regarding his
ankle injury
no
so two completely different stories
saying the exact opposite thing one says
it was because of injury the other is
like i have no idea what you're talking
about he was injured uh not at all and
then the third story comes from brown
himself who says i knew the game was
still going i left because i'm super
gremlin so that's what really happened i
like the fact that he that he has to
clarify i knew the game was still going
because he thinks people
he thinks that people think that he's
that dumb that he didn't even know the
game was going on
he thinks that some people thinking
maybe he thought the game was over he's
just leaving so he had to clear that up
like no i knew the game was still going
on and then what's really interesting is
ian rapport goes on pat mcafee's show
later on and tries to tell him his story
about the injury and pat
kind of says yeah okay cool but no but
he didn't feel like it was good
and so they forced them to play
what's that so they forced him to play i
see i don't i don't think an nfl team
forces anyone to yeah you can't it's
what i'm trying to lead you to ian like
that can't yeah
i can't yeah i don't know how that would
happen you know any any i mean as you
know any return to play situation is
basically an agreement between the
players slash player agent the coach and
the medical people it's all three of
them so nobody forced him to do
anything
all right so let's go take a look
naturally i think you're going to want
to go see him play beforehand and run
routes and see if he looked injured at
all and wall put on our medical eyeballs
and be like oh he looks healthy to me
meanwhile we don't know anything but i
don't know he was like you know running
running routes and
running
so if i put on my ethical if i put on my
medical eyeballs and i look at it i'm
like i don't know it looks healthy to me
but i don't know about
diagnosing someone's ankles via
game film
first time i've ever been tasked to do
it if we're being completely honest no
he looks fine and then as the story goes
he just left he got a ride and then he
immediately released a rap song
uh
pit not the palace he was from the pit
not the palace i believe is the song he
says thanks for the opportunity
to the bucks big mad but mad doesn't
mean anger or anything it just means
making a difference big making a
difference and then he went to some
basketball games in the city and hung
out so uh
we'll see what happens next if he gets
picked up or anywhere but yeah that's
kind of the whole breakdown of the
situation and
the stories that came out of it after
the fact and
no one really knows anything
besides i don't need to switch to fly