Bruce Arians Offers His Story on Antonio Brown Debacle

Tampa Bay's head coach spoke with the media on Thursday when he originally wasn't scheduled to speak.

When it comes to the Buccaneers and the media, Thursday press conferences are typically reserved for Byron Leftwich, Todd Bowles, and then a few select players.

That wasn't the case this past Thursday with the Bucs due to Antonio Brown's social media attack on Bruce Arians and the Buccaneers. Brown posted text messages between he and Arians, weird tweets, and even an Instagram post that featured a photoshopped Home Alone 2: Lost In New York movie poster resembling Brown as Macaulay Culkin's Kevin McAllister and Arians and Tom Brady as Joe Pesci's Harry Lime and Daniel Stern's Marv Merchants, otherwise known as "The Wet Bands" or "The Sticky Bandits" - whichever you prefer.

The latest from Antonio Brown on Instagram: pic.twitter.com/ZS5qlDurlC

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 6, 2022

Brown's unrelenting behavior essentially forced Arians' hand to where he had to speak with the media. 

As a result, Arians told his side of the story in hopes of cleaning up the mess the past week has produced.

"At no point in time during that game did he ever ask the trainer or a doctor about his ankle," Arians told reporters. "That’s the normal protocol – you go through protocols during games. I was never notified of it. So, obviously, that was the disturbing thing when we were looking for him to go back into the game. He was very upset at halftime about who was getting targeted. We got that calmed down, the players took care of that. It started again on the sideline. We called for the personnel group that he had played in the entire game, and he refused to go into the game. That’s when I looked back and saw him basically wave off the coach. I then went back and approached him about what was going on. ‘I ain’t playing.’ ‘What’s going on?’ ‘I ain’t getting the ball.’ That’s when I said, ‘You’re done. Get the ‘eff’ out of here.’ That’s the end of it. We are working on Carolina."

Arians also denied ever making the accused throat-slashing gesture, but did leave open the possibility that maybe Brown confused it with Arians pointing to the locker room, which based off the vantage point of Brown, could've logically been confused as such. 

“I don’t know – is that a throat slash (pointing toward the locker room)?”

Or of course, Brown is lying and trying to blow that part of the situation out of proportion in an effort to further and strengthen his claims.

Tampa Bay's head coach also made it clear that even if he wanted a hurt Brown to play, he couldn't force him into the game. At the end of the day, the players have the ultimate power in the decision.

“You can’t force a player to play," Arians told reporters. "I mean they have that choice. It’s their body. He (Antonio Brown) decided to play. He and Mike [Evans] both were on pitch counts. We were trying to manage as best we could in the first half.”

The Buccaneers also released a statement Thursday after the they announced the decision to officially part ways with Brown. The statement backs BA's side of the story through and through. 

But the most important part? According to Arians, the players know what really happened and they're backing their coach and their franchise.

And, they're ready for Carolina this weekend.

"Our team knows the truth," said Arians. "They know what happened. Our guys are fine. They are ready to play Carolina."

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