PITTSBURGH — The father in Pittsburgh Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin regrets the language he used to describe the New England Patriots during the postgame speech that wide receiver Antonio Brown’s opted to livestream on social media after a taut playoff victory against Kansas City.
The coach in Tomlin has just as big an issue with a team star forcing the Steelers to talk about something other than trying to find a way to finally beat Tom Brady when it counts.
Tomlin called Brown’s decision to broadcast more than 17 minutes of Pittsburgh’s giddy locker room to the world – a move that caught Tomlin using a handful of profanities – “foolish,” ”selfish” and “inconsiderate.”
“Not only is it a violation of our policy, it’s a violation of league policy, both of which he knows,” Tomlin said Tuesday.
“So there are consequences to be dealt with from his perspective. We will punish him. We won’t punish us.”
Tomlin took responsibility for his choice of words, though he was unaware of being filmed.
During Tomlin’s brief remarks he attached an expletive to the Patriots, who earned a full day’s head start on the Steelers by beating Houston on Saturday night, 24 hours before Pittsburgh topped Kansas City, 18-16.
“The responsibility associated with being in this thing, just from a role model standpoint, it’s something that I personally embrace,” Tomlin said. “It’s something that we as a team and organization embrace. So that’s why the language, specifically, in terms of the content, is regrettable.”
So is the action of the talented if sporadically diva-like Brown. The former sixth-round pick has evolved from raw project into one of the NFL’s best receivers.
This season he became only the second player in league history to post four consecutive 100-catch seasons.
The player who – for reasons he hasn’t disclosed – occasionally refers to himself as “Ronald” also has a devoted social media presence, with more than 1.5 million following on Instagram and another 650,000 on Facebook, many of whom got an eyeful and an earful.
While Tomlin has “very little concern” about the content of the video, he has plenty of concern over Brown’s lack of judgment.
“You wear on your teammates when they routinely have to answer questions about things that aren’t preparation or football-related,” Tomlin said.
“It’s our desire for him and for everyone to be great teammates, as well as great players. He is a great player. He is a hardworking player. He is respected, largely, in the locker room for those things. But incidences such as this don’t help him in that regard.”
The Steelers have grown accustomed to Brown’s flights of fancy, whether it’s posing for the Mannequin challenge while meeting with reporters, wearing eye-opening (and fine threatening) cleats or his over-the-top touchdown celebrations.
The fallout this time around has been mixed. Long snapper Greg Warren said Monday “AB is AB, he can do what he wants to do.”
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger expressed disappointment in Brown during Roethlisberger’s weekly appearance on 93.7 The Fan.
Either way, the fact they were forced to respond to questions about Brown before the biggest game of the season only reinforces Tomlin’s point, though Tomlin stressed Brown is hardly the only athlete capable of becoming a distraction.
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