WR JuJu Smith-Schuster had 13 catches for 121 yards and a touchdown yesterday.
TE Jesse James had five catches for 138 yards and a TD.
WR Antonio Brown had nine catches for 67 yards. Puny.
Don’t Smith-Schuster and James know that no one is allowed to outshine the great AB? That’s happening, and it’s a problem. If you think that had nothing to do with Brown’s meltdown over the last 24 hours, you’re nuts.
But it’s just one problem among many when it comes to Brown.
Consider Brown’s timeline for this season:
*Gets hurt, sees minimal work at training camp.
*Works out at a public gym with James Harrison, not at Steelers facility.
*Criticizes Hall-of-Fame football writer Ed Bouchette’s work, calls him a racist. (Brown didn’t apologize, though he likely thinks he did.)
*Threatens Jesse Washington of theundefeated.com with violence after Washington writes a story Brown finds unfavorable. (Steelers release statement saying Brown apologized. Here’s betting he didn’t.)
*Explodes at offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner on the sidelines yesterday, probably because he wasn’t getting his stats.
*Dares the Steelers to trade him on Twitter today.
That’s enough shenanigans for most players’ entire careers. For Brown, it’s just this season. His prior resume of foolishness is also saturated.
Coach Mike Tomlin or one of the Steelers’ leaders – say, Ben Roethlisberger or Cam Heyward – needs to get about six inches from Brown’s face and tell him to wise the ***k up. If Brown walks out, so be it.
But that won’t happen. Anyway, it’s too late.
Brown is about his brand, not the Steelers. Pizza Hut needs catches.