PITTSBURGH — Antonio Brown wanted to let the world in on the party when he live streamed the giddy celebration in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ locker room after an 18-16 playoff win over Kansas City.
The All-Pro wide receiver also happened to catch Coach Mike Tomlin indelicately describing the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh’s opponent in the AFC Championship game.
Tomlin’s word choice – an expletive – didn’t bother his players as Brown’s decision to throw back the curtain on what is usually a private moment.
“Personally I’d like some of that stuff sacred,” long snapper Greg Warren said Monday. “But this is a changing world, a changing environment. I can’t be some old guy stuck under a rock, that’s for sure.”
Brown’s 17-minute video collected more than 900,000 views in a few hours before being removed (though it lives on through YouTube).
It included players dancing and Tomlin – who was out of the shot and unaware it was being filmed but who could be heard clearly in the packed locker room – beginning his postgame speech by telling his team to “say very little moving forward” then adding “we spotted those (expletive) a day and a half.”
TV RATINGS: Green Bay’s 34-31 win over Dallas was seen by an average of 48.5 million on Fox, the most-viewed NFL divisional playoff game ever.
The game Sunday had a 26.1 rating and 46 share, the network said Monday, the highest-rated NFC divisional game since 1997. The rating is the percentage of television households tuned to a program, and the share is the percentage watching a telecast among those homes with TVs on at the time.
FALCONS: Coach Dan Quinn says All-Pro receiver Julio Jones will play in the NFC championship game despite a lingering foot injury that limited him during a divisional-round victory over Seattle.
CHIEFS: Coach Andy Reid doesn’t believe the holding penalty on left tackle Eric Fisher that cost Kansas City a tying 2-point conversion against Pittsburgh on Sunday should have been called.
After watching film of the decisive play in the Steelers’ 18-16 playoff win, when Fisher appeared to pull Steelers pass rusher James Harrison to the ground with about three minutes left, Reid came away with the same opinion as Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
In the 90 seconds that Kelce spoke to reporters before the Chiefs’ communications staff cut him off, the tight end ripped into referee Carl Cheffers and his crew. Kelce openly questioned the integrity of the officials and said Cheffers “shouldn’t be able to wear a zebra jersey every again.”
“He shouldn’t be able to wear it at Foot Locker,” Kelce said, adding a few expletives.
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